


Dream Walking

by Shinigamibutter



Category: ASTRO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, In which Jinwoo is slow, M/M, Mj is a dream walker, Romance, Sleep Walking, Slow Build, Supernatural Elements, myungjin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-22
Updated: 2017-06-01
Packaged: 2018-09-14 10:18:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 42,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9176605
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shinigamibutter/pseuds/Shinigamibutter
Summary: Jinwoo keeps dreaming of illustrious adventures of the bedroom variety. Add in a bout of sleep walking and he might just run into the man the of his dreams.Soulmate AU. Psychic Myungjun.





	1. The new neighbors

**Author's Note:**

> This is actually my first ever soulmate story line.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Squint and you'll see a Digimon reference

_I tilted my head to the side, allowing better access to my neck for the impossibly soft lips that were currently pressing kisses into it. The feeling of warm hands sliding under the layers of my shirts was making my toes curl in pleasure. The hands were strong, slightly calloused, and knew what they were doing as they grazed over my heated flesh. My own hands trailing down broad shoulders trying to find some kind of purchase to pull her closer._

_Whoever she was, her frame was bulky I thought to myself only to lose that train once sharp teeth began nipping at the sensitive skin offered to them. My thoughts were completely lost by the time I felt my clothes being removed, everything save my boxers which were starting to feel tight. I still had yet to see her face by the time I’d managed to slip my hands around her tiny waist._

_I was trying desperately to pull her forward only for her to resist. Teasing me with high-pitched giggles. Leaving me wanting, I couldn’t wait to feel her curves pressed against my body. She was kissing my shoulder, teeth sinking in as she sucked on it leaving her mark. And while my head was thrown back mid moan I finally got my way._

I woke with a start, sweat gathering on my brow and my heart pumping hard in my chest. I looked out at the dark room, my breath coming in pants as if I’d run a marathon. That wasn’t a woman in my dream. And there was no stopping the loud sigh that escaped my lips when I looked down at myself. The sheets were covered in sweat and my arousal was evident even in the scant moonlight filtering through the high skylight window.

‘Fuck’ I didn’t move for a long minute instead trying to block out the feeling of the hard cock that had been pressed into my own in the dream. That was what had woken me from an otherwise not so bad dream. Rubbing my eyes with the heels of my hands, I let out another loud sigh before clambering out of bed, doing my best to ignore the fire in my stomach yearning for release. It would go away soon enough if I ignored it anyway, but I opted instead for a quick cold shower.

Overall it took me half an hour to get settled back into a place where I even felt like going back to sleep. Which was on the couch and far away from any kind of evidence that the dream might or might not have left me to clean up. I would deal with all of that in the morning. For now, it was better to just get as much sleep as possible before my shift at the ungodly hour of six am. It was currently only three and I was not going to miss any more of the two hours that the current time still afforded me.

It was around four am that I woke once more, though this time it was to the sound of something breaking. It was with an even bigger jolt that I woke only to find myself standing over the ruins of another alarm clock. Recalling what I could of my dream brought me fuzzy images pertaining to the breaking of a jar known as The Jar of Confucius in order to win the luck of a thousand years. The dream recall only left me sighing to myself for the second time this morning. Because I knew what this meant. 

It meant I’d started sleep walking again.

A few more colorful curse words slipped from my lips as my mind settled around this discovery. And I abandoned any thoughts of more sleep altogether, in favor of preparing for the day. My thoughts were already turning irreparably dark as I hopped into a much warmer and thorough shower after assuring that the sheets were, luckily, mess free.

Arriving early had never killed anyone, as far as I knew. At least that’s what I kept reminding myself as I threw on a uniform and headed to the door at a little past four thirty. It wasn’t the first time I’d had to make the commute at odd hours. Though I was lucky that those times were far and few between compared to my coworkers.

As I was closing up behind myself, slowly as always, I was startled to see someone coming up the stairs at this unholy hour. An hour in which only exam students and insomniacs are still awake by choice. Whoever they were they were heading right towards me.

I really didn’t have it in me to be more than strictly polite first thing in the early dawn. So instead of greeting them as I normally would, I lowered my head over the lock pretending it took more time than it actually did. Even at my slowest pace, it only took a minute. Though I hoped it would lead whoever they were to just continue to walk past me.

My tactic failed and whoever they were they stopped, not even a foot from my door, just a few feet in front of the stairs. Waiting I assumed, for me to acknowledge them. It was only at times like this I cursed living in a friendly neighborhood.

With an internal groan, sigh, and tantrum I looked up. Suddenly I forgot how to breathe let alone the reason I’d been resisting to begin with. The smile that met my vision was stunning, the face it was attached to extremely attractive, and the rest I didn’t dare try to take in. At least not for too long considering the most recent content of my dreams. I didn’t need to add fuel to whatever fire that was. I like girls after all.

I nodded to the new comer having never seen him in the apartment building before. I knew everyone on my side of the building at least by face, if not name. Looking at the newcomer had me feeling a little regretful that the most I had done was throw on my uniform and run my fingers through my hair after my shower. I had only planned to go to work and come straight home to cram in a much needed drama binge before starting the hectic week ahead. What with it being Monday, my least favorite day of the week and there was sleep walking in the forecast. I hadn’t really cared about how I looked as much as usual.

I had only glanced at him but with that one glance I could tell the jeans and white t-shirt look was all he needed with a face that handsome. I pushed the image of myself in the mirror before I left to the side. I clean up well but this guy was on a different level with his dark hair and perfect complexion. It just wasn’t fair. Not to mention that charming, yet blinding smile he was throwing my way.

“Hi I’m your new neighbor.” The walking smile said and I couldn’t help blinking at the higher than average pitch of his voice. Something of my thoughts must have shown on my face as the smile changed into a grimace. “I wasn’t expecting anyone to be awake at this hour.” It wasn’t until then that I noticed the convenience store bag and coffee in the man’s hands, he might not have been planning to be awake either.

“I’m not usually.” I answered, a small frown forming on my lips as I wondered which apartment was empty that this man would be introducing himself to me so readily. It usually took a few weeks for me to meet everyone new. “Which apartment…?” I finally lowered my keys, their purpose now null and void so I dropped them into my open shoulder bag.

It was hard trying to ignore the scrunching feeling of my face as I tried to think about it. I wasn’t really awake enough right now to be asked to do mental arithmetic about which neighbor had left recently. There had been more than a few leases up in the last month. And with there being five stories that was a lot of openings.

“103, I’m right over there.” The man pointed at the door across from us a smile over taking his face again, this time it was more genuine. “I’m Kim Myungjun by the way.” He held out his free hand and I shook it in reflex, it was warm. “It’s a pleasure…” The expectant look on his face was endearing in the way his eyes crinkled up at the edges. Making it easy to forget our hands were still connected.

“Park Jinwoo. I’m right here in 105.” I found myself smiling back naturally and had to wonder when the last time I smiled this early in the morning was. It had to have been a long time ago. But I pushed that thought aside for later inspection as well as the list of who had moved. For now the more pressing thought was that I could be getting coffee and probably breakfast with how early I was running instead of chit chatting. I would definitely need something to keep me awake through my shift.

“Let’s get along,” I smiled taking my hand back ignoring the tingly feeling left in the wake of the absence of his hand in mine. I chalked it up to the slight breeze blowing from the open window. “Though if you don’t mind I need to get going.” I motioned to the stairs he was blocking with another smile, this one apologetic.

“Oh sure, sorry.” Myungjun moved away from the stairs and towards his own apartment with another smile. As he opened the door I was already bounding down the stairs but behind me I could hear a faint. “I’ll definitely see you around.”

I let the comment go in favor of thinking of what kind of caffeine and possibly a pastry, might keep me awake long enough to shake off the aftereffects of my dream. It still felt like just looking at another guy right now might be too much. Especially after meeting my new neighbor who already had me finding him attractive.

On that thought I decided that something sweet and coma inducing was probably for the best. By the time I had had a cup of coffee, that was more sugar than coffee, and a pastry as rich as sin I was already clocking in for work. All thoughts of my neighbors had been pushed aside by the lines I hadn’t been expecting.

It took me two customers to remember who all had moved out or around the apartment building recently. The loud couple in room 107 had moved up a floor, thankfully away from my ceiling to room 111. Jerri had said it was something about the lease having ended before her husband Takuya had gone to sign it that had them moving. The new resident of 107 was a quiet girl by the name of Emma who barely made a sound. It was something I was immensely grateful for, though I wouldn’t dream of saying anything to Jerri. Despite their loudness the couple was very sweet.

Apartment 113 found itself vacant again as the residents had moved without a word or even a goodbye. There had been a few old faces leaving, whose names I had never gotten the chance to learn or they had kept to themselves. Other than that I wasn’t quite sure of the on goings on the even side of the building. But I was aware the tenets had also changed a little, as they were prone to doing being located so close to the college. That left apartment 103.

Which left me kicking myself over the fact I’d forgotten the previous tenet of 103, Minhyuk had moved, granted he hadn’t been home much in the last month or so. Instead spending most of his time at school or with his girlfriend. We’re best friends but even I had barely seen him before he moved. He had been too busy planning his move and vacation all in one go. Thinking about it I really envied him when he left, moving in with his girlfriend only to turn around and take her on a cruise the very next week. Though it’s easier to not miss him if I only spend my time thinking about how jealous I am, after all he’ll still be gone another week.

Three more hours of my shift had passed before I remembered why else it was important Minhyuk was the one that moved. Before getting his girlfriend and pulling the disappearing act he had also left six or so spare keys all over my place. Not to mention the countless others that were lost. As he was constantly losing his keys in his apartment, losing them at my place, or leaving them at his girlfriend’s. I had several on hand for such instances. There was also that little detail that Minhyuk knew about my sleep walking and would let me vent about it. Because while I sleep walk, I also sleep talk. It’s a bit embarrassing.

The first time that Minhyuk had seen me sleep walk both of us had been jostled and screamed, that had been back in high school some odd years ago. Yet to this day I still don’t really feel that comfortable talking to anyone else about it. It’s not a common problem. And it’s made all the more frightening that sometimes I wake up in random places that aren’t in my apartment. Thankfully I hadn’t slept walked in couple of months.

Though around my thoughts the work day still drifted by slowly with only a few customers, most of them somewhat complacent. And I found myself pouring over all the conversations Minhyuk and I had about my sleep walking through the years. It wasn’t something that happened all that often really. It was at least four to five times a year and lasted for about a week or two. During which I would have strange dreams that I could sometimes recall but I could never recall moving.

Of the dreams I remembered having I told all of them to my best friend. He would listen and try to analyze them as I talked. Which might explain why in the most recent years I had ended up on his couch, and once in his bed. It had been a bit awkward but not as awkward as the few times I had woken up at the train station or in a building I’d never been to before. It was more common I would wake up around my apartment, something having broke or on the stairs in the apartment building. Sometimes I woke up to my own mumbling.

To hear Minhyuk tell it though in my bouts of sleepwalking I always seemed to be searching for something. And the brunette often tried to talk to me in the moment to glean what he could about why I was sleepwalking. Which was made possible by the fact I always sleep talk and being the curious person that he is he wanted to get to the bottom of it since everything else hadn’t worked.

The types of dreams I have varies though. And the only useful information that we had gotten was the name Confucius and that there was a jar that needed to be broken. Or some kind of dam the item never stayed the same but the idea of finding it and breaking it open did. Minhyuk often pondered this as he was deeply interested in psychology but the answers always slipped out of his fingers just like the objects I picked up in my sleep.

Those were the thoughts that kept circling around my mind as I helped more customers and otherwise kept myself busy. At least until the rush happened and all other thoughts were pushed aside. When I finally got off work at three o'clock it was with relief. ‘I won’t have to continue being friendly to everyone I see now that work is over.’ I found myself celebrating in my head as my mood had not really improved throughout the day. ‘Tomorrow will be Tuesday and one step closer to the weekend.’ I reminded myself as I said my goodbyes to my coworkers.

Though to be honest with myself I was already feeling exhausted when I started home and it had nothing to do with my job. Just thinking about all the work I would have to do before settling into my drama binge was exhausting already. I would have to sleep proof all of my apartment and dig out the rugged, tried and true alarm clock. The one that had survived being thrown against a wall a time or two. Not that I would need it much, if I had more dreams like last night. I forcefully shook that thought away.

I had a lot of work to do to my apartment, I went over the long list of things to put away. Let alone re-finding the stash of spare keys I had found, then misplaced myself when Minhyuk stopped needing them for a month. I was positive there were more keys lurking somewhere but I hadn’t tried to find them all before.

I continued reminding myself what I needed to do on the brisk walk home foregoing my normal coffee stop on the way having already splurged this morning. Not to mention the last thing I needed was to not be able to fall asleep at all. The last time I had tried the stay up until I can’t anymore cure I had almost slept walked to work on my day off.

I was just about to relax when I reached my door, thoughts already on what drama to catch up on. That’s when I heard my neighbor’s door open. I held in my sigh, it could be any of the apartments I told myself. It wasn’t really untrue with the way the hall echoed. I was cornered though and I knew with my slow pace there was no way I was going to get away from a friendly interaction. One that might last twenty minutes with the way some of my neighbors love to gab. Admittedly I was a bit like a walking tower of jello though when it came to their persistence.

“Ah…It’s Jinwoo right?” The cheery voice was pleasant at least I thought to myself as I turned around a small indulging smile in place. I almost swallowed it at the sight I turned to. I hadn’t really taken a good look at my new neighbor earlier other than to note he was attractive in the face.

I now had to take that back, the man was gorgeous. His dark hair was perfectly styled and cool, though admittedly the headband was odd but not wrong on him. His clothes were tight in all the right places to show off how fit he was. Even with the extreme bags under wide brown eyes, he was currently making me feel like a potato in my somewhat ill fitting uniform and still messy blonde hair.

“Are you off to work Myungjun?” I forewent any titles as the other had and I am not particularly strict on them to begin with. The smile that got me probably would have outshone the sun if I were the type to compare them. I’m not, and I certainly wasn’t about to start doing so for a guy. I had to remind myself of this for some reason.

“Haha no I’ve got night classes. I won’t be back until around two am.” Myungjun’s smile was waning just a little a thought crossing his deep eyes that I couldn’t decipher. Then it was gone without a trace. “I guess that means we won’t see each other that much.” The tone was more disappointed than what I was used to hearing from someone who barely knew me.

“You never know.” I found myself answering with a grin I didn’t know I was capable of making. If I didn’t know any better I would have thought we were flirting. “There might be four am coffee breaks.” On that note I opened my door winked, and went inside without a backwards glance at the too interested look on Myungjun’s face.

The only thing I could do was slouch against the door mortified by my own actions and horrid flirting skills. I was half waiting for the laugh as I leaned backwards, knees drawn up and head ready to slam back against my door. When laughing didn’t come I listened closer telling myself my reputation was on the line.  
I was surprised when after a long moment I heard “Oh shit! I’m late but…I’m glad…” The rest was a mumble under his breath and then there were thundering footsteps down the stairs. The smile didn’t leave my face, until I accidentally threw my head back too hard against the door while wondering what his expression might have been.

Ten minutes later I found myself wondering why I had attempted flirting with a guy to begin with. The thought entering my head while I was getting all the work done to my apartment. There wasn't an answer and it took far longer than I was hoping it would to finish up. Making it was two hours before I was able to settle into my drama binge watching session.

I had spent forty minutes of those hours finding the spare keys I had misplaced and digging out a few that I knew where they were hidden. I was sure new keys for the new place would replace them when the brunette got back. The rest of the time was spent sleepwalk proofing. It was never easy judging what I might break or try to get into while I was sleepwalking. More than once I had found the window open, broken lamps, or a broken alarm.

Eventually I found a sturdy alarm that could take a beating, throwing, or whatever else my sleeping self decided to do with it. It had a small label on it’s round face that read 'tried and true’ that Minhyuk had stuck on there one year. Though I had already discovered long ago that an alarm was rarely necessary when I was going through a bout of sleepwalking. It was just more of a comfort to know that something stayed the same in my surroundings.

Falling asleep that night was easier than I thought it would be after going through the motions of preventative measures. I’d managed to fall asleep at eleven which was only an hour later than I preferred to get to sleep. Unfortunately my luck was never one to last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited 6.25.18


	2. Introducing Jinjin

In my dream the lips on my chest were chapped, still though they were soft. Planting kisses near my nipples as long hands worked over my sensitive sides digging blunt nails into the skin there drawing long moans from my lips. My hands found themselves tangling into dark brunette hair, shorter than I normally liked it on girls.

But I could feel her chest just inches from touching mine, the heat from her skin radiating off of her in waves. My hands were hesitant on if I should push her downward towards my growing arousal or pull her upward for a kiss. She seemed okay with the indecision either way as her thighs began wrapping around my own, pinning me against the bed I was laying on.

I found myself waking with a nasty start for the second time in as many days. Looking down at myself in the moonlight felt like deja vu. “Mother of fucking…” I cut myself off with a sigh rubbing my face with my hands. There really wasn’t any use getting angry now.

“I’m too old for this.” I told myself glaring at my cock that was working it’s way towards hard in the moonlight. It was undeterred by the distant dream feeling of a hard cock pressed against my thigh. Leave it to my penis to not care about genders.

Never once had I thought about being with a guy, until yesterday when I had that dream. Right after my new, very handsome neighbor moved in. It wouldn’t be the first time that events had correlated with those in my dreams. It was just the first time sex had ever been involved.

As it turned out what I thought had been a very attentive girl, was instead a guy. Whose face I couldn’t see clearly beyond the stupid smile on it and a flash of deeply intense eyes. Just a glimpse as he had looked down at me. Only the stupid smile had been so gentle and mixed with something I couldn’t/wouldn’t put a name to. A look that had been absent from all these kinds of dreams I’d had growing up as a boy.

I rubbed my eyes again before sighing and tossing off the covers once more forgoing checking the sheets to settle back on the couch. Though this time I donned sleep pants and a cut off tee just in case. I sat staring at the clock for another ten minutes, it was only one in the morning. I only settled further into the cushions with a determined grunt I wasn’t due in tomorrow until seven. And I was feeling a little more determined to forget this dream than the last.

When I finally drifted back to sleep my dreams drifted around me like scenery. When I reached my current destination there some something cold warming in my hand. It wasn’t what I was looking for so I kept on walking abandoning the object before it became warm. Whatever I was looking for was something I wasn’t sure I would ever find, but I could feel the desperation to never give up until it was found.

There was a sun sparkling in the horizon that I was sure I was chasing after, or half chasing. I was followed by noises like banging and clicking but I paid them no mind still walking. I had to get to my destination the real one. It felt like my goal was so close. Just a stumbling away. But it was too far. Too soon and my feet faltered unknowingly. The journey stopped abruptly, by a fumbling.

When I woke up the next morning it was to find myself outside the apartment slouched against my door. I could tell from the feeling of it and the first thing I saw was the familiar 103 across from me. My back was cold but I was at least thankful it wasn’t the dead of winter because the hallways aren’t heated.

I could feel my phone digging into my thigh from the awkward angle of my pocket pressed against me. When I dug it out I grimaced at the time. It was only three in the morning, but I no longer felt like sleeping. I must have been enraptured in my thoughts because I didn’t realize anyone had come up the stairs until I heard my name. I was already turned away from the stairs ambling to my feet.

“Jinjin?”

I paused hearing the high tenor not expecting anyone to use one at this hour. Sighing mentally I had to wonder what was it with running into my new neighbor at such odd hours. It wasn’t until turning completely around I noticed the cup and bag he was holding that I remembered Myungjun saying something about night classes.

“Morning…” The greeting was tossed over my shoulder as I glanced back at him. I regretted it as now I once more felt like a potato, as he was still looking just as gorgeous as earlier. My loose cut off tee and sweatpants weren’t any better than the oversized uniform. Not that I think my body is bad or not worth showing off, but I wouldn’t catch myself in clothes that tight around my thighs anytime soon.

It took me a moment to realize that it hadn’t actually been my name he had called. “Jinjin?” I questioned wiping off my pants turning to look at him better as I did so. He was holding another cup of coffee, the smell was drifting to my nose invitingly. Myungjun was probably planning on staying up studying.

“It’s cute right?” His smile was cuter I told myself doing my best not to cringe at my own thoughts. “Or do you not like it?” His voice was disappointed and for some unknown reason I didn’t like the sound of it. I would blame it on my recent dreams but I already swore to myself that I would never think about those again. Even if it was all I had thought about since the moment I woke up yesterday when I wasn’t disciplining myself into obedience.

“It’s cute…Just why?” I shrugged moving out of the way so he could make his way to his own apartment without me blocking him. He only stepped up and into my personal space. Suddenly it was very hard to breathe with how close he was after the dream I had already had tonight. Instead my thoughts drifted around how nice he smelled and looked while here I was standing in front of him looking like a potato. Again.

“Why are you barefoot leaning against your door at,” He paused to look at his non-existent watch with raised eyebrows. “ungodly hours?” He looked extremely interested in the answer for some reason, but then just as suddenly he was smiling again nice and wide. Like I’d already answered him as he backed up again waving his hands in front of himself as if to dismiss the question as well. “Never mind why, it’s cute so I’ll call you Jinjin from now. Is that okay?”

I found myself nodding before I could think better of it. At least I hadn’t had to explain my sleep walking or said anything particularly stupid yet. Instead I turned back to my door hoping that I hadn’t somehow locked myself out, it wouldn’t the first time. Though there had always been Minhyuk across the hall to bail me out with the one spare he kept and somehow didn't lose.

When I jiggled the handle I felt the first bloom of panic in my stomach. I could still feel Myungjun staring at me though, when I glanced over he had moved to his own door and was watching my actions with unreadable eyes. He opened his mouth as if to say something when our eyes met. The words, almost freed died on his lips as our upstairs neighbor, Emma came bounding down the stairs. 

Even in this she was quiet, deep red slippers muffling her footsteps as she took the stairs two at time. She was wearing the shortest shorts I had seen so far this year paired with a barely there tank that read bite me. Her long raven hair was thrown up in a messy ponytail that left it swaying around her exposed stomach, playing some sort of erotic peek-a-boo with her pale skin. It might have been more distracting if I could keep my eyes away from the sharp line of the brunette's tanned jawline when he turned his head towards the noise.

“Myungjun you’re finally home did you finish with my notes yet? I need them back.” She was quiet in the way she spoke not winded in the least by the two small flights of stairs. She was the picture of calm until she looked over at me, I thought she was going to shriek with how wide her dark eyes went. She must not have seen me until just then as she dove for cover behind Myungjun’s back the moment our eyes locked. One glance told me she hadn’t been expecting anyone else to be up at this hour either.

It wasn’t until I saw her hiding behind the brunette that I realized Myungjun isn’t any taller than I am. Emma came up to his shoulder just about where she came up to on me. I was satisfied knowing there was no way he was more than a few centimeters taller than me. The feeling was ruined though when Emma leaned around him to peer at me, her hands gripping his biceps, red nails standing out against his white jacket.

I pushed on my door again just slightly as I jiggled the handle again, indescribably grateful that it opened. “You two have fun.” I called over my shoulder not looking back because I knew I wouldn’t like what I was going to see. There was a stinging somewhere that I wasn’t entirely unfamiliar with when I watched Emma holding on to his arms like that. I wasn’t sure who the spike of jealousy was aimed at but I found it uncomfortable nonetheless.

The last thing I heard was heated whispering that was followed by a long low feminine whistle that was quickly stifled. Then there was a muffled giggle and some shuffling. At this point I wasn’t sure if my walls were too thin or not thin enough as I found myself curious to what was being said. Suddenly trying to get back to sleep didn’t sound so bad.

Ambling back to my bedroom I glanced in the mirror to see exactly how bad I must have looked. I was a little surprised to see that my bedhead wasn’t as bad as normal and my arms were looking pretty good considering I had missed a gym day last week due to working a bit of overtime.

I pretended not to notice the red on my cheeks or the way there were holes scattered along the side of my sweats, not all of them were fashionable. I shook my head reminding myself that I’m definitely the most handsome. Even if only earlier one look at Myungjun had me questioning.

Instead of dwelling I jumped into the pillowy nest known as my bed, pushing all thoughts of anything but sleep aside. Snuggling into the comfortable heaven I’d made it into I found sleep overtaking me sooner than I expected. I hadn’t slept that soundly all week. It wasn’t meant to last though as all too soon I was being pulled back to consciousnesses.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Always feel to drop your thoughts good and bad.
> 
> Edited 6.25.18


	3. Jahee's reveal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited.

Laying in bed with my eyes fluttering between open and closed I could only chase that feeling of deep sleep for just a few more seconds. I lay there with the feeling of 'morning comes too soon' when I finally opened my eyes. The thought of not wanting to go to work raced through my mind, no different than any other morning. I lay there feeling sluggish looking over at my alarm clock daring it to ring. I had woken up one minute before it was set to sound.

Meaning I didn’t really have the luxury of rolling over for more sleep, even though I wanted it. When the alarm did sound it was only met with a groan as I wrestled myself up and then into a quick shower. I had plans later today so I put more effort into my appearance packing a bag to change out of my uniform at work. As there was no way I was going out looking like a potato again. Despite my lack of sleep those last few mostly restful hours had put me in a good mood.

Locking up behind myself I smiled sloppily, as nothing had gone off kilter. No handsome neighbors had shown up when I barely felt like talking to make me feel like a potato. No scantily clad neighbors had stopped by to ruin whatever moment was trying to blossom between myself and said handsome neighbor. So far it felt like today was off to a really good start. And I was going to run with that feeling for as long as the day would let me.

Which turned out to be all of three hours and fifteen minutes. Just long enough for the first twenty customers to amble by my workplace and my replacement to call in with the flu. It was enough to sour my mood in no time. During lunch I spent all my time trying to salvage my plans. Then it was right back to seeing to customer needs and trying not to think about how they might not find a replacement.

If there was any saving grace to the day it was getting off work. A replacement had luckily been found to come in only thirty minutes after my shift was supposed to end. When Honey walked in with his swaying hips and too big a wig I could have kissed him, even despite the not so flattering lipstick choice. He had obviously just come from his other job.

“You’re a lifesaver.” I told him as I let him take over. He only smiled with an ‘mmhm’ that came out in a higher falsetto than I was used to hearing. I didn’t question it instead making my way back to the backroom where I could change.

By the time I checked my phone I was already dashing towards the meeting place. Only to see the text that Jaehee was already waiting there. Cursing under my breath I picked up my speed anyway, maybe our plans would still be redeemable.

“You’re late.” Was the first thing I heard when I entered the small cafe I was supposed to be meeting everyone at. The ravenette who was glaring at me with wide blue eyes had his arms crossed when I walked up to the table. “You’re always so slow.” He rolled his eyes at me with a sigh, frowning with an eye smile that belied his amusement. A look that I had yet to see replicated.

“I’m always late, even when I’m early.” I replied with an equally exaggerated eye roll as I plopped down in the seat across from him. “I guess that means they already left.“

Jaehee shook his head at me uncrossing his arms and pulling his coffee towards himself slowly. "Never showed, they did have the courtesy to text though. Don’t feel bad it’s not the first time we’ve been stood up.” He shrugged his short ponytail slipping over his shoulder and down his back. I couldn’t remember the last time I had seen him with hair shorter than to his shoulder blades. Yet this style had always suited him and his good looks.

“But didn’t they beg you for this meetup?” I gave him an incredulous look but settled further into my seat. “And why didn’t you text me if they texted you?” I was up in my seat again, he was always like this.

“I was afraid you wouldn’t show then. I never see you unless Minhyuk isn’t around.” He pouted at me but I couldn’t find it in myself to argue. Even though it wasn’t true and we both knew it, so I just shrugged at him. Minhyuk’s schedule was closer to mine, not to mention that until a few weeks ago he was right across the hall.

“See even you agree with me.” He nodded to himself sipping his coffee studying me as I rolled my eyes at him. There was a quiet lull as the waitress came over to take my drink order. As she was walking away to fill my order Jahee smirked at me knowingly. “I’m sure you’re curious why they canceled.” I could hear the goading in his voice.

“Are we sure it’s not because I’m cursed?” I sunk against the table resting my head on my arms. This was the fifth time this had happened now. Every time the reason was outlandish but similar.

“You’re not cursed, you’ve had girlfriends before.” His blue eyes were sparkling with that ‘if I have to tell you that one more time I might hit you’ look. He studied me a second longer before shaking his head. “She said it was a dream she had that gave her the feeling that if you met today bad things would happen. Of course since she didn’t want to come my date split as well.” An exaggerated sigh followed. “You’d think with how handsome we are getting dates would be easy.”

“Maybe it’s your personality.” Lifting my head up on my hand, I let a smile over take my face as I watched him. His reaction was always the same, eyes widening comically, eyebrows drawing up into the abyss known as his bangs, and a smirk.

"I’ll have you know my personality is ten times more personable than yours.” His smirk drifted into his eyes as he snorted in laughter at our long standing joke. Only calming down as the waitress returned. He smiled earnestly at her as she sat my order beside my arm. She was cute, and if I weren’t there he would probably have whined to her about being stood up. That was, if he hadn’t already.

Straightening I pulled the small drink towards myself looking at Jahee, who was watching people pass by the window idly. He was always one to pout or whine loudly. Actually everything he did, he did loudly with as much dramatic flare as he could get away with. Sometimes I had to question how we had become friends.

It had been through Minhyuk back in high school when he had forced me into the dance club. Those days had been fun but it wasn’t a passion we had felt like pursuing afterwards. Now Jahee attended an arts college studying drama, Minhyuk worked diligently for his girlfriend's father, and I just worked to make a living. There hadn’t been a particular passion that left me wanting to pursue higher education instead of moving out on my own.

“When is Minhyuk getting back again?” His voice sounded as if he had pulled himself away from deep thought as he spoke. He turned away from the window blue eyes curious. He looked thoughtful as he waited on me to decide on what food to order.

“Sometime next week I think he said he’ll text when he’s within range.” I shrugged taking a sip of my drink, I balked at how sweet it was. The ravenette didn’t miss my reaction.

“Too sweet even for you?” He laughed, I rolled my eyes and he settled back into his seat resting his head on his hand as he smirked at my displeasure. Our conversation found better topics as we ordered and waited for our food. It was comfortable as we talked, the topics jumping as we ate.

The door dinged behind me for the first time in a while and when Jahee looked up, I thought his eyes were going to bug out and his jaw was going to drop. It was a look I’d seen on him all of once many years ago when he had spotted his first love. The look wasn’t any more attractive now than it was then. I didn’t comment on it instead, turning to look at whoever had obviously caught his eye.

I couldn’t hide my surprise though when I turned to see Emma walking into the small cafe. She was wearing white, her long dark hair fashioned on her head into a large bow, that you wouldn’t have known was her real hair at a glance. The dress she was wearing was short, but longer than the shorts she had been wearing last night. Her knee highs were white as well with a soft red ribbon around the tops. It was quite the contrast with her at home image I had seen last night.

When her dark eyes scanned the cafe they landed on me and I smiled waving at her. I ignored the blush that graced her cheeks as she smiled back then looked back at the waitress headed her way. Turning back to Jahee who had already composed himself into order, probably long before she had glanced over at us. He was now looking at me with what I knew was envy.

“Do you know her?” He whispered his eyes darting over to where Emma was being led to a seat near some other customers across the cafe, away from the window. He was already looking completely smitten. “Can you get me her number?” The seriousness in his voice was unmistakable, I felt somewhat bad for what I would have to tell him.

“She’s one of my new neighbors.” I shrugged and ignored the plea in the ravenette’s eyes as I went on. “A lot of new tenants this go round as well.” I glanced over at Emma. She was now sitting with a menu held up, legs crossed and appealing. I reminded myself about the keys I had set by the door to give to Myungjun and pushed the image of her fingers on his biceps out of my mind. It wasn’t my business, not really. “I think she’s dating the the new guy that moved into Minhyuk’s old apartment.”

“It figures that she would be taken.” The ravenette’s voice was disappointed though it still held the undertones of curiosity. Something he held in common with my other best friend was his perceptive and overly curious nature. “But why is it you sound like you’re more upset that the new tenant of 103 is taken.” His eyebrow was twitching, blue eyes sparkling with the desire to know.

“I’m not upset at all.” I may or may not have set my chopsticks down a little roughly at the end of that statement. I wasn’t about to admit that it had bothered me since I wasn’t even sure why it had bothered me, I like girls after all.

“I was just thinking that since we have free time should I go get my hair dyed. I’m tired of blonde but I’m not sure what color...” I knew he was amply distracted from his queries when he studied my hair seriously and reached across the table to finger a blonde lock. It was something I’d been meaning to do anyway. 

The rest of the day felt like a blur of Jahee’s questions about Emma, as he was unable to let it drop entirely. As well as acquiring a new look, with more clothes shopping than I had done in months. It was always nice to be able to hang out like this. Though I had to acknowledge that seeing Jahee made me miss Minhyuk more than I was wanting to admit to myself.

Thoughts of my best friend were drifting through my mind when I glanced over at apartment 103 as I unlocked my own door. Entering my apartment I glanced at the keys that were set aside in a small baggie near the door. I wondered if Myungjun would even be awake since he took night classes it was possible as it was already pushing nine. I shook the thought away not wanting to bother him over something trivial in case he was asleep. Or maybe not even home.

Catching my reflection in the small mirror near my closet I was taken aback for a moment. I didn’t quite feel I looked like myself yet. My hair had a new style and color, both were Jahee’s idea. It was now an ash blonde with a cut that complimented my good looks while showing off my charm. Or so to quote the drama king. I liked it. The idea of what my new neighbor might think flitted across my mind and I derailed that thought quickly deciding to relax with a drama.

I wasn’t sure when I fell asleep, it must have been while I was watching one of my dramas. I only noticed when I shifted, turning to the other side. Cheek nuzzling the soft material under it, as I pulled the warm blanket closer around myself, listening for the show that should still be playing. I knew I hadn’t stopped it and it was too much effort to do it now.

I was already drifting back into a comfortable almost sleep when I realized there was no noise in the background. I felt panic blossom in my chest. My thoughts began trying to drag themselves back from the warm fuzzy place they had run off to. Things were clicking together though and I was almost certain I wasn’t going to be happy with the results.

I went over the list of what was different in my head hoping that maybe I would be lucky just this once. My couch was not soft, I didn’t own any blankets that were used this time of season, the drama should still be playing, and my place didn’t smell of incense. All of these things lead to the knowledge that I had definitely ended up sleep walking somewhere new. The way my heart was beating felt like it might explode where it sat in my chest. Slowly I opened my eyes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still a slow build but things are about to pick up.
> 
> Feel free to holla at your gurl _[@shinigamibutter](https://twitter.com/shinigamibutter?s=09)_
> 
> Edited 6.25.18


	4. Crash landing

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapter is spilt a bit odd but not in a bad way. It be would be very long wise.

When I opened my eyes I was greeted with a sight I hadn’t been prepared for. I knew exactly where I was and I hadn’t been wrong about it not being my apartment. I wanted to curse, scream, and run as far away as possible. However no matter what action I would take there would be no avoiding the amount of awkward that was about to befall me.

I found myself staring at the small almost unnoticeable pattern of pin holes in the wall next to the arm of the couch I was now leaning on. The holes were in the shape of a very unique star that I knew too well. I pulled the blanket up over my head screwing my eyes closed again. It was too late though because I heard someone moving around somewhere behind me.

I had never dreaded opening my eyes more than now. In all the instances of my sleepwalking taking me too far, one time as far as the train station, I had never been this afraid to open my eyes. That was because I knew no matter where I was it was going to be okay.

This was not going to be okay, this wasn’t Minhyuk who had given me a key for this, this wasn’t some strange stairwell in a building I didn’t know. It wasn’t a warm and friendly couch that I was allowed to crash on. This was quite probably the couch of my new neighbor with whom I had only exchanged polite, if not flirty around the edges, small talk. My life was over. I resisted the urge to groan but just barely.

“Are you awake Jinjin?” Myungjun’s voice floated over from where I knew the kitchen was, it was laced with sleep and deeply attractive in ways I wasn’t willing to admit to myself. I stayed silent, doing my best to calm my heart which felt like it was about to beat out of my chest with the rate it was going.

Even as he spoke I could still hear him moving around, the smell of coffee overtaking the incense. More noise and I could feel him leaning over me as he spoke, the sleepiness still dripping from his voice. I had to wonder how long he’d been awake possibly waiting for me to wake up on my own. “It’s no use pretending.” He added with a prod at my shoulder.

I shifted restlessly debating how much longer I could drag this out. Unable to stop wishing that maybe this was just a dream and when I pulled the blanket down I’d find myself stashed away in some random staircase halfway across town. Far from my handsome neighbor.

That wasn’t the case though as doing so only brought me face to face with puffy faced Myungjun. Scanning his face quickly I was surprised to see no anger there yet I couldn’t find any words to ask why. I could only sit there staring at him feeling like a dumb rock, I was sure I looked like one too.

Whatever spell I’d been under though was broken when he chuckled leaning back on his heels. Now my mouth began flapping like a fish, yet still no words came. He chuckled again as he looked over me towards the kitchen. “We’ll talk in a minute, for now are you hungry?” His brown eyes were smiling and he seemed entirely too relaxed with this situation. I was certain I must still be dreaming so I shut my trap with a nod following him as he motioned me to my feet.

Everything felt surreal as I sat down on a tall stool at the small island facing the kitchen. The blanket I’d dragged with me clutched in my hands as I sat there studying my surroundings. It didn’t feel right to do anything else but sit there quietly taking in the differences of Myungjun and Minhyuk.

The island counter shot off the wall that connected to the hallway the same way it did in mine. The counter though unlike mine or Minhyuk’s wasn’t cluttered with junk mail and various objects we hadn’t bothered to find a home for. Instead there was a small pile of notebooks balanced haphazardly on the edge with a few pencils and pens littered around them like carnage. One nice looking pink notebook was set in front of the messy pile by itself, sparkly black hearts resided in every corner.

Instantly I thought of Emma, I looked away as if it had burned me. My eyes landed on the counter across from me where the coffee pot stood slowly brewing, the smell wafting from it was divine paired with whatever he was cooking. It was the same place I kept my coffee pot, while Minhyuk hadn’t owned one.

My eyes drifted up to the standard cabinets a dull uninspiring brown that filled all the apartments, with a few marks from years of use without replacement, some of them left by Minhyuk or myself. Our building was far from the nicest but far from the worst, it was known as the middle ground for college students.

My wandering eyes led me to the cute rainbow knife display that rested in front of a cutting board. One of the knives was out laying next to a pile of something that Myungjun must have cut up while I had been asleep. The handle was pink and the blade was a matching color but with leopard printing. I couldn’t help wondering if it was another of Emma’s touches.

I skipped over his back again eyes landing on the standard white fridge, there was a single adornment. A simple calendar with the days marked off and tiny scribbles I couldn’t read. Minhyuk’s had been filled with notes, all of them from his girlfriend. My own had some funny magnets, important phone numbers, and a running list of what I needed to buy.

Finally I allowed my eyes to wander over to Myungjun’s back. I’d been avoiding it as it only left me with questions. But now there was nothing else to take in without turning around, but I’d already violated his privacy enough by even being here. I couldn’t help but wonder why he hadn’t kicked me out, pushed me back into the hallway, and locked the door.

Instead I had woken up after a peaceful sleep, with a blanket, and now breakfast. I had to wonder what his reasoning was, if I was indeed actually awake and not experiencing a real mind fuck of a dream. In the back of my head I had to squash the thought that if I were dreaming his peeking shoulder blades wouldn’t be wasted on just cooking breakfast and would be hard at work. Apparently whatever trip down boys love lane my dreams had been on was starting to slip into reality to disturb me.

I shook my head examining Myungjun’s back again this time with a clearer head and altogether avoiding his sweatpants and how low they were hanging. The tan skin of his back was flawless as the cut of his shirt, if it could still be called that with as much of his back it was showing, exposed it easily with each movement of his equally exposed arms. 

His arms weren’t overly muscled or defined, not like mine but he looked like he wouldn’t be any fun on the wrong side of a fight. As he grabbed the cutting board adding whatever it was to whatever he was making I caught sight of the time on the stove clock. It was after ten in the morning.

Blinking rapidly I thought about what significance that had and then I was scrambling in my seat for my phone. The blanket slipping off my bare shoulders to pool around my legs as I tried to reach into my pockets. Finally getting my phone free I saw I had five missed calls all of them from work. I was over three hours late. “Fuck…” I banged my head against the counter.

“Something wrong?” Myungjun’s voice sounded curious as he glanced over his shoulder at me briefly. I could hear the sounds of something cooking steadily. He turned his attention back to the stove flipping whatever it was then glanced back at me again for an answer.

“I’m late for work.” I sighed loudly not bothering to lift my head as I stared at him from the odd angle. It really wasn’t worth going in at this point I told myself thinking about the upcoming conversation. Making up an excuse was definitely the better option than dealing with my boss and the mess of coming in late.

Just as I was debating what to do my phone buzzed in my hand, it was Eunwoo saving my ass. If he were here I might have kissed him. “Never mind it doesn’t matter anymore.” I sat up replying to my savior thanking him profusely and promising to treat him to lunch soon. I was extremely grateful to him for telling the boss I was sick and had called in. He was working a double now because of me. I would have to treat him to something really nice.

“Who sleeps with their cellphone in their pocket?” Myungjun’s oh so reasonable voice drew me out of my thoughts as he turned to look at me, back to the stove. I was starting to wonder if he was just born perfect or if I was missing something because he had yet to make me feel less like a potato-y dumb rock. When did my life take such a turn.

“I do.” I blinked as he moved away from the stove reaching for the cabinet by the fridge pulling out two plates before grabbing two mugs. “I have to really.” I found myself volunteering with a shrug. Absently I watched his back propping my head up with my fist to do so.

This didn’t feel like the invasion of his home I knew it was. He nodded absently at my answer with a shrug as he began moving around the kitchen with ease. Next thing I knew I was blinking at half an omelet being set before me. Without my notice there was also silverware, sugar, and creamer set out to the side.

“I hope you like American breakfasts, I wasn’t expecting a guest so I hope this is enough.” His smile was blinding, teasing in a way I felt didn’t fit the situation. Neither did the cute bunnies dancing around the moon on the mugs he had sat down before taking a seat himself across from me.

“Honestly…” I started noticing the bags under his eyes and the messy way his hair was falling into his dark eyes. I wasn’t even sure where to begin but he was looking at me expectantly. This wasn’t going to be easy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You all know where this is going right? Are you at least a little surprised? Even a teeny tiny bit?
> 
> Edited 6.25.18


	5. Unnatural Start

I stared into his dark eyes which looked brighter than I thought the situation would have allowed. In that moment I decided I was going to be honest, completely honest. Even if it might ruin whatever surreal moment I’d found myself in. I hadn’t thought it would take this much courage to be honest.

“To be honest I have no idea what’s going on right now. When I woke up I was expecting to be cursed at, maybe hit, or least thrown out and possibly never spoken to again.” I admitted with a frown looking down at the omelet instead of his eyes which were dimming at every word becoming indecipherable. “I wasn’t expecting…Hospitality?” I waved at the food unable to put all my thoughts into words.

He seemed to understand anyway as his smile became more strained, the look I couldn’t read grew in his eyes. I stared at him expectantly, waiting for his questions. Questions I was willing to answer.

“Well…” Myungjun closed his eyes folding his hands under this chin, face suddenly blank as he seemed to think a moment. When his eyes opened the look was gone. Replaced with one more calculating, but even that was gone in a flash replaced by an easy smile.

“I hear it’s dangerous to wake up a sleepwalker.” He winked at me and I could feel the heat raise on my cheeks for no reason I could determine. He reached for his mug of coffee with a shrug, like this was nothing. Just something that happened every other Wednesday. His eyes were shadowed by his hair as he took a long sip, I could see the steam rising in front of his perfect eyelashes.

“That doesn’t explain this…” I motioned to the food neither of us had touched yet, but he was picking up his silverware. “Why are you being so nice to someone who essentially broke into your house?” My voice was a lot louder than even I had expected and had him looking up at me with a slow blink. I felt like a dumb potato-y rock again under that gaze, but I knew I was right to question.

He paused, opened his mouth to say something and thought better of it. He shook his head with a soft smile looking me in the eyes, the brightness slipping back into them. “Did you know you talk in your sleep?” He motioned to the door with his fork as if to make his point. I nodded at him slowly not understanding what that had to do with anything.

“It’s not like I didn’t try to stop you from barging in, I was up studying when you came waltzing in.” His voice was filled with humor like he thought it was very funny that his neighbor had just entered his house like they belonged there. He started cutting his omelet as he spoke using his hands to emphasize his point. “When I asked you what you were doing you handed me a bag of keys, along with the one that you had used to get in. You didn’t say anything at first though.”

I could feel the heat rising on my face as he continued. I knew it was possible for sleep walkers to carry out tasks they hadn’t before going to sleep. This was the first time I had ever done so. Usually it was just me waking up in random places or with broken objects in my wake that resulted from my sleep walking. Apparently not this time.

Myungjun paused again looking at me thoughtfully as he shoved a large piece of omelet in his mouth. His eyes were calculating again as he studied my face. “You should eat.” He swallowed taking another sip of coffee his eyes diverted away from mine. I could only nod as I did as I was told, my mind racing over what I have might have said in my sleep.

It wasn’t until I had taken a bite of the omelet that he continued, probably expecting me to eat as we talked. “When you did say something it wasn’t very intelligible. It was something about how they don’t change the locks…” It sounded like he was going to go on again but I noticed his pointed look at my stilled fork and took another bite. He studied me as I chewed, as if he were thinking over what he was about to say again.

For a moment silence reigned as I took a sip of the coffee he had made me doctor to my liking. Then he was continuing as he if he hadn’t stopped. “You also said something about an idiot who couldn’t keep his shit together before you started crying and took over my couch.” The tone of his voice was steady and light almost teasing. Once more at a level I didn’t feel fit the situation. Yet the look in his eyes was suddenly more serious than it had been since waking me up. “Who is Minhyuk?”

I paused my third bite of omelet halfway to my mouth. He was staring right into my eyes but it felt like he was staring deeper, interest in my answer evident. All I could think about though was the fact I had cried. I could feel the heat growing hotter on my cheeks again. I looked down at my plate, playing with my fork, hiding from his inquisitive eyes. It made sense now why he was being nice. It took me a moment to answer, but he didn’t ask again. Instead I could hear him playing with his fork against his plate.

“Minhyuk is my best friend who used to live here, those keys were his.” I finally found my voice looking up to see that he was staring again, fork settling on the plate as he nodded along with my words. It wasn’t until I was saying all this to someone not in the know that it hit me how much I truly missed Minhyuk, and how much he was always there for me.

I felt tears pricking at my eyes as I continued. “He moved out about two weeks ago then he left on a cruise…I miss him.” I wiped my eyes and took another bite of omelet to distract myself from the level of honesty spewing out of my mouth like it was natural. It wasn’t, but he deserved answers. “This is good.” I smiled weakly appreciating his kindness. “Thank you.” I finished feeling like a lame rock again.

“Well…” Myunjun’s smile was blinding again and I had to look away. “That explains the keys at least…” The brightness was back in his countenance but it looked like he was holding back more questions as he took another sip of coffee his eyes averted once more, waiting.

My eyes widened with understanding a few seconds later. “Ah well Minhyuk is the only one who knows about my sleep walking.” I began explaining without prompting. “He often lost his keys at my place, so like this time, I was going to return them. And instead, I just ended up sleep walking into his apartment and crashing on the couch.” It wasn't quite the truth I promised myself I would tell but I was already starting to wonder if the heat on my cheeks was going to become permanent.

I could understand Myungjun’s misunderstanding though, as he wouldn’t be the first to question my relationship with Minhyuk. His girlfriend had on several occasions. And she hadn’t known about my sleep walking into his apartment. “It just became a habit, I guess even in my sleep I knew it was a safe place.” I sighed to myself thinking about it like that made it sound lame but that was far closer to the truth than the white lie about keys.

“I've always talked to Minhyuk about my sleep walking." I further admitted feeling a little more comfortable the more I admitted without reason. "Ever since he found out back in high school, he's always been curious about it. Whenever he caught me he would try to wake me up or ask me things to find out why I sleep walk.” I wasn’t sure why but I could spot relief in the dark eyes of my handsome neighbor as he lowered his coffee.

“I’m sorry about…” I paused trying to grasp the right words to explain how dumb, apologetic, and yet thankful I felt at the moment. Even if the situation was a little surreal and a lot awkward it was nice to be honest with someone who wasn’t Minhyuk and in some ways with myself.

Myungjun waved me off with a simple snap of his wrist in my direction. “I understand,” He was smiling again seriousness broken as he picked up his fork and motioned for me to do the same. “It’s not something you can put into words is it?” He smiled easily again and all my remaining tension about it was gone, a minute passed without a word both of us eating quietly. It was a more comfortable silence than I had been expecting but I was still relieved when he broke it. “How long have you been sleepwalking?“ He sounded curious, genuinely so.

I swallowed slowly contemplating how to answer this. Minhyuk had asked me this once before but even then I could only tell him as long as I remembered, it had been enough. It is also a question I often ask myself to the same result. Most of the doctors I’d been to had hinted that maybe the reason I was still sleepwalking as an adult was whatever had brought it on in the first place. But there were no records of when it started or what might have brought it on.

My parents hadn’t been much help in unraveling that mystery either. “I don’t know.” I finally settled on the same answer I’d given Minhyuk. “As far back as I can remember.” I shrugged finishing my last bite of omelet reaching for the last of my coffee.

Myungjun nodded slowly setting down his mug, I could tell it was empty from the sound it made. “Does that mean the other day in the hallway…” He hesitated biting his lip as he tucked his hands under his chin, looking at me thoughtfully. He didn’t finish instead shaking his head biting back more questions.

“Yeah…I had just woken up there.” I answered him anyway with a strained smile. “Sleepwalking is dangerous, next time you can just wake me up. I mean this was nice…” I motioned to our empty plates, heat overtaking my cheeks for the nth time this morning. “It’s not always so nice where I wake up.” I admitted in a quiet voice with an appreciative smile. “Let me do the dishes?” I found myself offering feeling a little of his brightness rubbing off on me already. “It’s the least I can do.” 

“Sure.” He smiled at me easily as he stood up, I did the same trying not to blush again as he scanned my clothes. I knew they weren’t as bad as they could have been. Yet there he was early morning puffy and he still made me feel like a potato. “I’ll have to kick you out afterwards, no offense but I didn’t get enough studying done and I’ve got class tonight.”

“I understand.” I smiled picking up the blanket and folding it neatly onto the chair as he gathered the dishes.

It seemed only natural when we slipped into small talk as we worked. Me washing, him drying. It didn’t feel as awkward as I knew it should when I left his apartment either. Slipping out with a simple “I’ll see you around.” Because it was true.

When I moved to unlock my door I heard someone on the stairs. Glancing over I saw Emma in her too short shorts but she was wearing a much longer tank than last time. Hair once more thrown up in a high ponytail that swished around her stomach. She didn’t look like she’d scream this time when she caught my eyes. Instead she nodded to me politely before slipping into Myungjun’s apartment without knocking.

With the whole day left ahead of me all I could think about was binging on dramas. Something to take my mind off the weird turns my life had taken lately. Because I was sure this would be the end of whatever was happening with my handsome neighbor. I had a feeling that it would lead to us greeting each other more readily and that would be it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well what did you think? Was it what you were expecting?
> 
> Edited 6.25.18


	6. Minhyuk

When I woke up in my own bed the next morning not knowing how I had gotten there I wasn’t complaining. If this was how I woke up every morning after sleep walking I would never complain about it again. However I wasn’t particularly happy with the time staring at my alarm clock groggily I noticed I still had three hours before I needed to be up for work.

I had been woken up by my phone which was blowing up on the nightstand, vibrating so much it sounded like it was going to fall off. Reaching for it I had to wonder what the hell was going on at this ungodly hour in the morning that would so urgently need my attention.

When I looked at my notifications, after adjusting to the harsh light of the screen I smiled widely. My phone was still going off but there was an increasing number of messages being sent by my best friend to whom I hadn’t talked in weeks. I wasn't about to complain about it. When the notifications finally settled I saw the astounding number of messages and knew most of them would be pictures if not all of them.

I was proven right when I unlocked my screen and scrolled backwards almost all of the pictures were of him and his girlfriend. The few selfies he had sent were to a backdrop of different places or the ocean. When I finally reached the first message I felt tears prick at my eyes. 

It was a simple message really but it meant everything to me. It was him telling me that he was finally in texting range and that he couldn’t wait to hear about everything he missed. My phone went off one more time and I blinked back my tears at the message that greeted me. Three simple words. I miss you!

I shot him a text telling him if he really missed me he was never allowed to leave again. I scrambled out of bed and towards the kitchen, no longer in the mood to sleep. Not with how happy I was feeling.

Twenty minutes later Jaehee was messaging me about how Minhyuk was finally back on planet earth and how he wanted to plan the biggest welcome back party. I promptly reminded him what time it was and that I would get with him about a party later. We both knew I wouldn’t as I didn’t even like parties. After calling me a loser Jaehee assured me that the time wasn’t that ungodly of an hour and told me he’d just go back to studying then if was I was going to be lame.

At the thought of studying my thoughts drifted to Myungjun and I wondered if he was still awake. Considering what he had told me about his schedule he would have just gotten home around now, if he didn’t stop for coffee. As I thought about it my body moved on it’s own towards the living room, it was then I registered the odd noises outside my door.

Before I could think better of it I was pulling my door open to see what was going on. I could feel my phone vibrating in my pocket as I blinked at the sight before me. It was one of my many student neighbors nothing out of the ordinary. Except she was dragging a bag down the stairs, causing it to clunk loudly against them every pull. I would have found it suspicious if I didn’t know that Mari was a fashion major and the arm sticking out of the bag was obviously plastic.

“Jinwoo...” Mari blushed when she looked at me and only then did I realize I hadn’t slept in anything more than my sweat pants. I wasn’t phased though and glared pointedly at the loud and obnoxious bag. The brunette had the good grace to look apologetic.

“Is there a reason you’re dragging your mannequin down the stairs at three in the morning?” I quirked my eyebrow at her crossing my arms over my bare chest. I probably wasn’t the only one that had been disturbed, even back in my bedroom I might have heard the noise as she passed by. But I wasn’t going to nag her too much as she never did anything without reason.

“Ah well..” Big brown eyes looked away from my chest and back down at the big black bag. It was then I noticed the tears in her eyes. “This one isn’t mine.” She finally finished with a shrug that left her loose top falling off her slender shoulder. It made her look smaller than she was as she stood there next to the heaping bag with it’s limbs reaching out as if to snatch someone away. She didn’t look back at me, staring at it as if captured.

“Isn’t yours?” I raised my voice a little to draw her attention back as my brow lifted curiously. Mari was a woman of few words and none if she didn’t have to spare them. The only time I had heard more than clipped sentences from her they had been about fashion. She had lived in this building almost as long as I had, she lived above 103. We didn’t talk much but we weren’t strangers.

“Well...Do you remember Park Ji?” The blush on her cheeks as she asked had me recalling the one of two times I had to recall of Park Ji. Neither of which were times I wanted to remember as finding your neighbors in compromising sexual situations was never something one wanted to recall.

“Unfortunately.” I shrugged my shoulders wondering what her fashionista boyfriend might have to do with it. Then it clicked the tears, a mannequin she would normally covet, and the odd hour. “Oh...” I felt like a dumb rock but I came to a decision grabbing my key from behind the door, locking it as I shoved the key in my pocket. Stepping out from in front of my door I heard it softly click behind me.

“Let me help you and I’ll listen.” I offered with a smile, she nodded and stepped back to give me space as I approached her. Up close the fact she had been crying was more than evident in the puffiness of round cute cheeks and there were also large bags under her eyes. A blush began growing on her face as I studied her. That only worsened when she accidentally let go of the bag when I reached for it, sending it clattering to the ground.

“You could have waited until morning at least though.” I smiled at her bending down to shove an arm back in the bag, I wasn’t upset she dropped it, she had always been skittish. And my being shirtless probably wasn't helping her as I knew my abs were nothing to scoff at.

“I didn’t want to look at it anymore. I couldn’t...” Her brown eyes were downcast and I couldn’t stop my hand as it landed on her small head patting it as I rose back to my full height. She was shorter than Emma I noted in the back of my mind as she sniffled under my touch. I felt bad for her but this was the only thing I could do.

“You guys aren’t like disposing of a body are you?” Myungjun’s clear voice cut through my thoughts his tone not quite as light as I was used to hearing. I wasn’t sure I wanted to turn around, I did anyway only to meet dark eyes that were taking in the bag and my bare back.

I could only think about what happened technically yesterday as I looked back at my hand on Mari's head. Sure things hadn’t ended too awkwardly, yet I hadn’t expected to see him so soon. Seeing him now, indecipherable eyes narrowed and paired with a playful smirk plastered across his handsome face had me speechless.

Luckily I didn’t have to answer as Mari shook her head under my hand, blushing again. “It’s a mannequin.” She answered her small voice filled with tears. I really wished there was more I could do for her, knowing how much she had been in love with Park Ji. They had been together as long as she had lived here.

“I’ll help her take it out so it won’t be too loud.” I was picking the bag up when I was stopped by warmth against my back. I could only look into dark eyes questioningly over my shoulder. Myungjun’s hand took the bag from mine pulling it free of the stairs as he sidestepped me. It gave me a better view of him and while it didn't leave me feeling like a potato, it wasn't fair.

Here it was ungodly hours of the morning and I knew he had gotten very little sleep, yet Myungjun still looked divine holding a trash bag full of mannequin limbs. I thought to myself that sometimes life really isn't fair, even though I knew not a minute before my own good looks had poor Mari blushing. And I knew I was far, far from ugly yet every time I looked at Myungjun I felt like maybe I wasn't the most handsome man in the building anymore.

“You don’t even have a shirt on.” Myungjun rolled his eyes as he motioned to my bare chest with a smirk that didn't fit the situation. He shouldered the bag with ease as he motioned towards my door. “I’ll take this. Get some sleep Jinjin you have work tomorrow.”

I couldn’t protest because he wasn’t wrong but before I had the chance to he was turning to Mari. Quietly he asked where she would like him to take the bag. I could tell she was holding back what she really wanted to do with it as she said to just leave it on the curb. It made me question what she would have done if I hadn’t disturbed her.

Feeling a little petulant I waited until they had gone down the stairs next to my apartment. He had turned back to wink at me while Mari waved, she seemed lighter than when I had found her. I sighed to myself uncrossing my arms as I turned back to my door digging out my key. I also grabbed my phone to see a message from Minhyuk. He said that next time I should just go with him so he didn’t have to miss me and I could score a hot girlfriend with his help. I shot him a text of what time it was and that I would text him later, whining or no.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've put in so much foreshadowing I really want to hear if anyone has theories! Gods the foreshadowing! It's like my favorite thing to do...
> 
> Edited 6.25.18


	7. Jealous

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I took so long to update. Haven't had much time to type. Also this chapter was really really hard to write. I'm sorry if it shows.

I woke up again later that same morning on the couch to my alarm going off in the bedroom. It was almost comforting to hear, except it also meant I needed to get up to turn it off. Sighing I glanced around myself at my living space seeing that nothing was moved or broken in my sleep.

I noted that my tv was at least turned off this time, though the reflection in it didn't look well rested. Next to my head my phone was vibrating softly with it's own alarm. I grabbed it silencing it as I pulled it free from the charger, glancing at the screen. I could sleep for the next forty minutes instead of getting up if I wanted to. I didn't have to work until seven thirty today.

Instead I rolled off the couch gracelessly, eyes still glued to the screen of my phone. There were two missed texts one was from Minhyuk, with the whining I told him wouldn't work. The other was from Eunwoo with a simple but effective message that basically implied if I didn't come to work today he wasn't going to be responsible.

He hadn't said for my death but I knew Eunwoo well enough to know what he meant. The exact wording was unnecessary, since we'd worked together closely for some odd years now. I shot him a text back letting him know I would be there early to make up a little for yesterday if he was wanting to leave early.

Trudging into the bedroom I ambled over to the alarm shutting it off. I gathered my uniform rubbing the sleep from my eyes with a yawn. I had to remind myself there was only one day until the weekend, then I could spend both days in bed if I wanted to.

Of course I knew I wouldn't, I never did but the thought was always tempting. Not even ten minutes later found me scanning my fridge for something to eat on the go having forgotten to eat anything last night. I was making my mental grocery list when Eunwoo texted me back telling me if I was going to be generous I should get there already. I could only roll my eyes as I made do with the last protein milk drink. It wasn't like I couldn't get something else to eat at work later.

Locking up behind myself I was surprised to hear 103's door opening behind me. Looking over my shoulder I saw Myungjun, he was looking more awake than I felt. It wasn't until I saw him that I even realized I hadn't slept walked at all last night.

"Morning." I greeted him with a nod shoving my keys into my bag as I looked him over. He was in sweatpants and a tee shirt for once yet he looked no less handsome than every other time I'd seen him thus far. This morning though I didn't feel like a potato in comparison which was an improvement. Not that much effort had been put in, but I know that I'm naturally handsome.

"Morning Jinjin!" His smile was wide and genuine as he swung his mail key around his finger. "Off to work?" He questioned already knowing the answer as he fell into step beside me as I started down the stairs. We both knew he already knew the answer from my uniform, but I wasn't against small talk this morning.

"Yeah I'm going in early to let my coworker off. I figured I owe him after he covered my shift yesterday." I shrugged looking over at Myungjun's dark eyes as he nodded in understanding, a soft smile on his lips. "Thank you again for that." I felt the heat raise on my cheeks thinking about it again.

It was odd to me how comfortable I was just walking this close to him after the whole intruding his apartment thing. While thanking him I thought of last night as well. "Also for last night." I smiled at him turning the corner to the next set of stairs. His eyes were hidden by the angle of the lighting for just a second as we turned but his smile was bright and wide.

"It wasn't a problem." His voice was low when he answered and his eyes weren't focused on me as we spoke as if a sudden thought had taken him away. I had to wonder what he was thinking about, I didn't ask though instead letting a comfortable silence settle for a few seconds. It was then I realized there weren't very many stairs left before we would reach the lobby but at that thought it seemed the pace of our steps slowed down.

"How is Mari?" I inquired side eyeing my handsome neighbor. He quirked an eyebrow at my question but didn't pause in taking another slow step. If I didn't know any better I'd say the look on his face was twinged with jealousy at the question. I knew it wasn't as there couldn't have been anything to be jealous of.

"It might have been more comfortable for Mari-noona if you had seen her out." The dark brunette admitted with a shrug continuing with his recounting of the event. "She's sweet, but you might want to keep an eye on her. I mean she was talking about setting the bag on fire by the time we reached the lobby...What even happened?" He finished while not looking at me, eyes trained on the stairs with the mail key gripped tightly in his hand between us.

The fact that his voice was very serious didn't perturb me and neither did the idea that Mari wanted to burn it. She had always been a little, well a lot, off in general but she was mostly sweet. It was something that could be overlooked. What did perturb me was the fact he had called her noona.

Not once had he added honorifics to my name or even asked. I wasn't sure if it was because he could tell I wouldn't care or if it was something else. He'd already given me a nickname before we were even close after all. I let these thoughts slide though as it was more important to find out if I would need to visit her later.

"Well it did belong to her ex. He dumped her last night...I don't know all the details but I know they had been dating for quite awhile." I shrugged it off noticing the way Myungjun relaxed a little at my words. "So was she doing okay when you left her?"

"That would probably explain the crying." Myungjun sighed as if to himself and shook his head slightly replacing the frown that had taken over his face with a grimace. "She didn't say anything to me about her breakup but when I left her she said she was feeling better. She told me to tell you not to worry. I walked her back to her apartment to be sure though. I'm not that thoughtless." He gave me an offended look and I had to wonder since when we were that close. I realized it was probably since the nickname I hadn't rejected.

"I didn't say you were." I smiled at him and ignored the feeling that he was leaving something out. It took another few steps for me to realize what it was. "Wait...are you saying you haven't been to sleep yet?" I paused on the steps in the back of my mind apologizing to Eunwoo who was probably expecting me to be there soon since I normally didn't take this long. I couldn't stop myself from walking slowly with Myungjun, for once finding myself wanting to converse in the morning.

I rationalized it was to find out what happened to Mari. But it was getting increasingly hard to hide the fact I was just stalling to spend more time staring at my handsome neighbor's face, even from myself. That thought alone made me want to drop the conversation and book it to work. But I didn't. The image of eyes filled with emotions I couldn't read from one of my dreams flitted across my mind as I stared into Myungjun's dark ones waiting on his answer. We were stopped above the last flight of stairs before the lobby.

"Not yet." Myungjun's smile was almost too bright to look at while his eyes were twinkling. "I'll sleep later it's not like I have class today..." He looked like he wanted to say something else but the words died on his lips hearing our names from down the stairs.

"Myungjun...Jinwoo..." Emma's smile was polite as she climbed up the stairs her long pony tail swishing behind her highlighting the curve of her back from this angle. "Good morning." Her quiet voice was softer in the early morning and the look she shot the dark brunette had me wanting to leave. It was a look I couldn't decipher though I was sure he would know what it meant if he were to actually look at her.

"Morning." I greeted her before quickly turning back to my handsome neighbor with a smile of support. If he was going to fight with his girlfriend I wasn't going to stick around for it. "Well I've got to get to work before I'm too late. I'll see you around." I nodded to him and then Emma before turning to rush past her. I wasn't actually lying about being late though as I'd have been there at least five minutes ago if I hadn't slowed down to talk.

"Yeah, I'll see you around." Myungjun's eyes never left mine as I spoke, not even to look at Emma. As I rushed down the stairs I felt both of their eyes on me. The feeling of their stare didn't go away until I was outside already running towards my job.

I had to push away the uncomfortable jab in my heart as I ran. My mind filled with images of Emma's touches in his apartment. Those thoughts could be dealt with later, when I wasn't heading to work or never, never worked to.

It didn't take me long to get to work once I stopped stalling. My coworker was waiting patiently, as he always did. "Sorry I took so long Eunwoo..." I could only apologize when I walked up to the counter. Luckily he didn't look too upset so I brought up where he would like to go eat while he got ready to leave. Somehow as we settled on a place I knew the day was going to drag out. My thoughts already drifting back to the talk this morning and the fact I never replied to Minhyuk's text.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If anyone sees any inconsistencies please point them out. I'm trying really hard to catch them all. (perfectionist) Yet I feel like something is staring me in the face and I'm just missing it.
> 
> Don't be afraid to point out anything! If you like it or don't. I'm pushing my limits as an author as much as I can.
> 
> Edited 6.25.18


	8. Again

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like I should be writing chapter ten not eight with how much I've jammed into every chapter. This was hard to write as well. Please tell me if it shows. 
> 
> Most of the time I really feel 1000% certain I suck and no one has the nerve to break it to me yet.

The moment I knew I was right about the day dragging was when I had finished with my first customer. What had been a normal two minute transaction had felt like five. I resisted sighing when I glanced at the clock fifteen minutes later to realize that in reality only eight minutes had passed. It wasn't that there weren't customers or things to be done during my shift to prevent the hours from dragging, those distractions just weren't working.

I knew the hours were dragging because every few minutes my mind wandered back to Myungjun. The fact thoughts of him kept popping up was unnerving and I wasn't sure when he had even started to invade my thoughts. It felt like it might have been from the first encounter. It felt like it might be even longer but that wasn't possible.

It didn't help that whenever my mind did wander back to Myungjun I kept wondering what he had been about to say. There were a million things it could have been before Emma interrupted. And if I wasn't thinking about that it was the overlapping of his dark eyes and those from my dream. I couldn't bring myself to deny the similarities nor the quicker beat of my heart as I thought about it. Yet every time I felt close to an answer to why I was interrupted by customers. Making the time drag in stops and starts of thought.

It was with relief I took my first break whipping my phone out to finally text Minhyuk back. I knew he wouldn't mind if I took forever to reply anyway. I wasn't surprised when he texted me back immediately with an underlying whine in his word choices. It was easier to read his tone in text than anyone else I knew.

Or maybe it was just that we had known each other so long I could understand him with just the words he chose to use. He was telling me about his cruise before I even had to ask. He loved to gush about the things that made him happy. I had a tendency to let him. I knew if anyone were to see me right now my grin would be huge in their eyes.

Somehow after that the time seemed to float by a little faster. My thoughts distracted from Myungjun and his unfinished sentences and unreadable eyes. Instead focusing on my grocery list I'd abandoned earlier. Listening to Minhyuk gush about exotic foods had reminded me that my own cabinets were bare. Those thoughts helped me make it all the way to lunch which I spent in a group chat with Jaehee and Minhyuk. While also messaging them individually, a common practice in our friendship of running several different conversations at once.

As I sent my last message to Minhyuk for the moment I contemplated bringing up my recent sleepwalking. I knew he would want to know, he always wanted to know. Yet I found I wasn’t sure how to broach the subject.

Minhyuk was out having fun with his girlfriend and I didn’t want to bring him down with my weird sleeping habits. For a moment I thought about telling Jaehee, it wasn’t that he didn’t know I used to sleepwalk. He’d caught me at least once or twice in high school. But I’d never told him much about it or that it was still happening.

I only hesitated for a moment though, my fingers hovering over the send button. I pressed it just before clocking back in. Jaehee would definitely make the time and I could then have someone to talk to that wasn't Myungjun about the whole walking into his apartment thing. I could just tell Minhyuk later, when he wasn't in gush mode.

Somehow sending that text to Jaehee made time fly as I waited to check his response. My phone having already gone off at least ten times since I had left the break room. He was probably listing all the places he would want to eat and where he would like to go shopping afterwards. He was known to be fairly predictable but I already had a place in mind that was a little more private and a whole lot more comfortable.

When I finally went to my last break, time starting to eek by again, I told him to meet me at my place with his favorite takeout. At the time I normally made it home. Completely ignoring the long list he had been compiling in my texts. His response was a quirked eyebrow emoji followed by an okay. 

Admittedly it wasn't often that anyone came to my place besides Minhyuk. It wasn't that I minded the company as much as it was just easier to meet up somewhere else. With Jaehee being a student and living further away than most of my other friends, it was just more convenient not to meet at my place. It would probably take him the last thirty minutes of my shift to even get the food and meet me at my apartment.

Suffering through the feeling of crawling time that is the end of your shift I couldn't wait for my replacement to come in. I was a little surprised to see Honey walking in, as he normally didn't work this shift but he only smiled at me. His wig was smaller today a little easier to move in, I was sure, and the lipstick shade a touch more reasonable. He smiled at me as he greeted me the falsetto not as high as the last time I had seen him.

I only smiled back before making my way to the break room to gather my things saying goodbye to my boss as I left. I made sure to wave goodbye to Honey though as I left. I could only giggle internally as he was wearing his official name badge today because the boss was in. It read Ryan in large black letters that didn't suit him the same way his name badge with Honey in gold did.

When I climbed the stairs to my apartment I was surprised to see not only Jaehee but Myungjun talking to him. As he casually stood in front of my door with plastic bags full of food. I could smell the noodles from where I stood, I could also hear their conversation.

I didn't feel like eavesdropping. Though I could literally hear my own heartbeat drumming it's way into my ears at what I had heard so far. Which was Jaehee opening his big mouth to say something I knew I didn't want him to. Because it started with 'you're just as handsome as' so I closed the distance between us quickly.

"Jaehee, Myungjun." I greeted digging out my key as if I hadn't just interrupted them. "What brings you over Myungjun?" I looked at him curiously. I would have denied my heart skipping a beat when our eyes met, if I hadn't spent the better part of my shift replaying the overlap of his eyes and the eyes from my dream over and over to the same effect.

"Well..." Myungjun's eyes looked away from mine and back to his own door and I picked up on the faint flush to his cheeks. As if he had been caught. I ignored my heart skipping another beat as I waited for his response. "I was going to ask if you wanted to get lunch since I don't have class today. I see you're busy though." He looked pointedly at Jaehee as he spoke as if asking him to back up his story. "I was just keeping Jaehee-ssi company while he waited for you." The smile on his face looked pained when he stared into my eyes again there was a question unasked lurking in them.

I could feel Jaehee watching us with interest. I would hear all about it as soon as the door closed I was sure. I could already feel the heat on my face at the thought. "Maybe this weekend." I offered with a smile hiding my irritation that he was using honorifics with someone else again. It was a silly thing to get jealous over and irrational considering I didn't care about honorifics to begin with. Though the ravenette next to me was raising an eyebrow recognizing the irritation for what it was.

"Yeah we'll call it a date Jinjin." Myungjun's smile was wide and blinding as he stepped away and towards the stairs, I moved to make room for him to pass. I could feel him slip by, the warmth of his body mere inches from my own when there had been plenty of space for him to pass.

I felt the heat on my cheeks at his word choice and proximity. Jaehee's unwavering stare was focused on me as I answered. "Yeah...a date." I felt my face flush but I ignored it, instead stepping up to my door unlocking it as I watched Myungjun start down the stairs. Jaehee still stood there observing quietly moving to stand behind me, eyes wide. I knew he was in awe of the level of flirting he was witnessing. I was just as in awe I was doing it, but this wasn't the first time I had flirted with Myungjun.

"I'll see you later then Jaehee-ssi, Jinjin." Myungjun winked over his shoulder as he finally bounded down the stairs. I was once more left wondering when we became so close, but in the back of my mind I wondered if we always had been. Something about the look in his eyes as he winked at me stayed with me as I pushed the door open.

"Jinjin?" Was the first thing Jaehee said as he walked in behind me. I didn't need to look to know his eyebrow was quirked again. He had several questions I knew. I didn't answer him though, instead shutting the door behind us. 

"I'm going to change while you set the food out. I'll answer your questions soon." I told him. He didn't question me again. Instead heading to the kitchen to get plates and chopsticks, shoving some junk aside on the island so we could eat. When I came back out in sweatpants and a cut off tee he smiled at me and we sat down to eat. I hadn't planned on talking then wanting to wait. Because we both knew I'm not good at talking and eating, but as soon as my first mouthful of noodles was finished I couldn't stop.

I told him about my sleepwalking, about how Minhyuk had theories, the dreams, and everything. Including where I had slept walked to before and most recently. I found my muddled feelings for Myungjun coming out as I confided that it scared me to wake up in random places. That I was scared what it meant for my love life, for my life in the future and before I knew it I was crying.

My fears expressed in ways I hadn't been able to express to Minhyuk, not because I didn't want to but because I could never find the words. Jaehee just sat there stoically listening, somehow still eating as he let my tears flow as I spoke. It wasn't until I was done that he reached across the table putting his hand on mine that I looked up. He was crying too.

"I'm glad you told me." He smiled sadly then told me about how he had known I was still sleepwalking. That Minhyuk had blabbed years ago but that he had always felt there wasn't anything he could do but be there. To wait for me to open up to him. He let me know that he was there for me now too. Sharing his own theories about the dreams and my feelings I hadn't even meant to express.

"Now as to your sleepwalking into Myungjun's place..." He looked at me as I wiped my eyes, my noodles were cold as I started eating again. "I don't think it was just because Minhyuk used to live there. I think you like him." He looked into my eyes as he said it, he'd always been blunt. And after the flirting he had witnessed he had a leg to stand on.

I could only move my mouth like a dying fish as it clicked with everything I had been experiencing with Myungjun lately. Yet I hadn't connected the dots at all. "But he's a guy..." I looked down at my noodles, chopsticks paused in their circling motions. My feelings still just as muddled as my thoughts.

The images of Emma's fingers around Myungjun's bicep, her touches in his apartment, her entering without knocking clouded my mind as I thought about it. I could feel my heart clenching. I didn't bother to try to tell myself I like girls as the dreams I'd had recently also came to mind. Myungjun's eyes overlapping with those filled with that unnamed emotion.

Jaehee paused a long moment, I could feel him scanning my face but he only nodded to himself as he spoke. "I'm not judging you and neither will Minhyuk. If you like him, you like him and if you don't, you don't. I just think you should think about it."

Jaehee's eyes smiled at me as he finished his noodles, he had an uncanny ability to be emotional and eat all at the same time. An ability I lacked. "You obviously trust him quite a bit already to sleepwalk into his place, you've never walked anywhere with people other than Minhyuk before. Even the train station you walked to wasn't running at the time." He reasoned and I nodded because those were the facts.

"I'll try to keep an open mind." I nodded in acceptance because he wasn't wrong and maybe if the beating of my heart was anything to go by, he was right. Even if I couldn't quite wrap my head around the idea. However the idea of liking a guy wasn't as impossible as I used to think. Well if the guy was as handsome and as sweet as Myungjun. I pushed the images of Emma aside. If he was dating her I could worry about that later once I figured out my own feelings.

After I finally finished eating we settled into watching dramas on my couch. Not fifteen minutes into the first one Jaehee was pulling a key from somewhere, as it had been poking him. It was to Minhyuk's place I knew without looking at it. I could only sigh to myself realizing that meant there were more lurking around my apartment. They could wait until I found them by accident I decided pressing play again.

I wasn't sure when Jaehee left, but I woke up to find the tv off, the lights out, and a note on the table saying he'd locked up behind himself and to text him later. I smiled at the cute drawing he'd added in the corner before making my way to bed. It was only eleven and I wasn't about to lose any sleep when I had to work at seven the next morning.

Settling into bed I drifted off quickly my dreams passing me by. It felt like floating through easy waters. I wasn't sure when they shifted into dreams of turbulent waters, turning urgent. It felt like being pulled by an insistent urgency of finding something. I wasn't sure what it was I was looking for but my feet kept going on, forward and unyielding. Through all the obstacles that stood before me, it felt like there were many. Until I was falling into a safe haven where all the urgency floated away. It was safe and there was no need to move anymore.

I woke to the smell of incense as someone gently shook my shoulder. My thoughts were disoriented as I my phone was vibrating against my thigh. It felt far away though as I buried my head into the softness of a pillow. Trying to ignore both the shaking and the alarm sounding in my pocket alerting me that it was time to get up. They became more insistent though so I slowly opened my eyes, thoughts slowly waking up as well. I could hear the person calling to me as they shook me a little harder. I didn't realize why that was weird for a few more seconds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From here on the pace should pick up a lot. With last chapter all the groundwork is laid out! YAY! Actually the end is now in sight.
> 
> If I'm doing this right (I sincerely doubt I am) this should read as if it's a oneshot. Each chapter smoothly leading into each other. 
> 
> Edited 6.25.18


	9. Morning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well here we are on chapter nine...How did we get here? I'm honestly not sure. I plan to post the original one shot draft on my tumblr when this is done. You might end up asking yourself this same question when/if you read it.

"Jinjin...you need to get up." It was Myungjun's voice and I realized it was his hand trying to shake me awake. As I woke up a little more I could feel the heat gather on my cheeks and ears. Realizing I had waltzed into his apartment, again. I wanted to die this time too, listening to him continue trying to wake me.

"Your alarm is going off. Jinjin...I know you missed work last time." He paused a moment to see if I would stir further than screwing my eyes closed and burying my head back into the pillow he must have given me. "You need to get up." His voice was gentle but demanding and I really wanted to ignore it so I could go back to sleep. If only to wake up and find out it was all a dream. I knew it wasn't though so under his insistence and my alarm I finally roused myself more fully, actually looking at him.

A breathy "Fuck..." was all I could say as my eyes met his puffy sleep face and beautiful morning glow. It wasn't fair that he looked so handsome all the time, while I sometimes resembled a potato more than a person. The words of apology were spilling out of my mouth as soon as I sat up rubbing my face with the heels of my hands. I realized that the key Jaehee found must have been how I got in.

"Myungjun I'm sorry..." I said finally more awake as I looked at him, his eyes were indecipherable though as they looked at me. I had to swallow, my mouth had suddenly gone dry from the look on his face. It wasn't angry it was something else. Something unnameable and the eyes from my dream overlapped with his again.

"It's fine." He waved my apology away and the look was gone replaced with a wide smile, his eyes turning into crescents. And he stepped away from the couch to give me some space. "Do you have time for breakfast or is your alarm the five minutes before I need to leave kind?" He eyed me warmly and I realized that I could smell food cooking in the background. The sizzling I had heard was the grease cooling from the bacon I could smell now that I'd come to wakefulness.

I pulled out my phone silencing it, as I thought about his question. Looking at my screen I noticed six texts I'd missed from Jaehee, Minhyuk, and Eunwoo. Opening my messages I briefly scanned them to see if I had missed anything important. Minhyuk was asking about my new neighbor with the wink emoji, Jaehee was swearing up and down he hadn't said anything, and Eunwoo was reminding me we had lunch plans today.

I looked at the time, it was only just after six. My first alarm must have woken Myungjun. Or maybe he hadn't slept as I saw notebooks and pens spilling across the end table. A second blanket and pillow were wadded up at the opposite side of the couch.

"I've got time." I found myself admitting before I could say I didn't want to impose. The smile I got was more blinding than I felt was called for first thing in the morning. Or for the situation we had found ourselves in for the second time.

Thinking about it I didn't have any recollections of Myungjun trying to wake me this time either. Yet I had the feeling if I were to ask he'd provide some kind of excuse. Even though we both knew that any excuse he could give wouldn't hold water. I didn't think it was worth trying to find out only to argue at such ungodly hours, so I didn't ask. "Have you even slept yet?" I asked instead taking in the dark circles under his eyes as I tucked my phone back into my sweats pocket. Resting my head on my knees to look at him better.

"Yes." He looked at me seriously for a moment as he studied my face. "I had fallen asleep on the couch before you came in and woke me up." Myungjun shrugged and made his way back to the kitchen throwing me an 'aren't you coming' look over his shoulder.

"Before you ask I did think about waking you up this time. But then you settled into the couch and it was just so cute. I was barely able to bring myself to wake you when your alarm went off." He was already grabbing dishes from the cabinets as he spoke, the food sitting on the stove waiting, he'd made enough for two this time. I had to wonder how long he'd truly been awake.

"I don't know that I would call my sleeping face cute." I countered with a yawn stretching as I walked up to the island. I'd left the blanket he'd draped over me back on the couch. When he turned at my rebuke I noticed his eyes roam over my outstretched limbs, pausing at the slight rising of my shirt. When his eyes landed on mine he only smirked without comment before turning back to preparing the food. He started humming under his breath and I did my best to ignore the flush growing on my cheeks.

A comfortable silence formed as I sat there waiting, my eyes trying to settle on Myungjun's back even as they fluttered with the desire for more sleep. When my phone vibrated again I jumped pulling it out to see another text from Minhyuk with nothing but question marks. While I had it out I decided to at least text Eunwoo back, Minhyuk and his many questions could wait. While Jaehee was dead to me for the morning.

Finishing my first line of text I realized I was feeling more comfortable with Myungjun. More comfortable than I knew I had right to. I pushed that thought aside shoving my phone back in my pocket as a plate and mug of coffee were settled in front me.

When Myungjun sat down across from me the playful smirk was gone replaced by a wide smile. "I hope you don't mind American again." He was already shoving a piece of bacon in his mouth without waiting for a reply he continued. "You know when I asked for a date this wasn't what I was expecting." His dark eyes were alight with mirth as they stared at me, face upturned as he fed himself more bacon at an oddly cute angle.

I choked on the coffee I had just started sipping and almost spluttered a response until a giggle followed his words. I realized he was joking and I couldn't hide the returning flush or smile that had overtaken my face. "Well breakfast dates don't happen often enough." I countered with a smirk into my coffee at the way he froze for a few seconds, a fine dusting of pink growing on his cheeks. "I don't mind American breakfasts by the way." I added picking up my own bacon with a grateful smile. It had honestly been a while since I had been able to afford much in the way of food luxuries.

"You say you don't mind them...but then what do you prefer?" Myungjun was looking at me with that undecipherable look in his eyes again. And I got the feeling that here before long I would know what they meant. "I mean in case you'd prefer a breakfast date over a lunch date." He added with a quirked eyebrow and soft smile.

I couldn't help laughing at how cute he was before answering him. Somehow we slipped into easy conversation and before I knew it the time had passed. And I was left rushing back to my own apartment to get ready for work. As I was grabbing clothes for lunch with Eunwoo my thoughts kept slipping back into the conversation with Myungjun.

His cute smile not leaving my mind even once as I had to rush around. I only shot Minhyuk a short I'll tell you on lunch text as I was sprinting out the door. The promise of lunch tomorrow weighing on my mind as I thought about what Jaehee had said. What I knew I was feeling. It didn't take me the whole jog to work to realize that I was most definitely falling into feelings for Myungjun. While earlier this week that thought might have stopped me in my tracks today I didn't mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any feedback is much appreciated. Though it must be admitted your author is prone to self imploding into a blushy, gushy, emotional mess. (Still true)
> 
> The finish line is is sight. I'm not sure how many chapters we're looking at but know that it's coming. My biggest fear with this is the quality going down before we get there.
> 
> Edited 6.25.18


	10. Eunwoo

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I am trying to update everything before Chicago and Bts because I might die from being in the same room as Namjoon ❤  
> (Months later still dying because Namjoon looked in my general direction)

After my realization my shift seemed to float by rather quickly. What with it being Friday, busy, and my thoughts so full of Myungjun and what I might be falling into with him that I could barely walk straight. When I finally got around to texting Minhyuk back it was during my first break and I typed up a novel long text filled with everything he missed and sent it. I knew once he had finished reading it he would text me back.

By then it would probably be around lunch time. I was honestly surprised he'd been texting as steadily as he had since I knew his girlfriend was a little, well maybe a lot, possessive. I hadn't really run into problems with it in awhile, and it'd been awhile since she started a fight over me monopolizing Minhyuk's time. But there had been problems before.

Either way I didn't have time to check to see if he had sent something. And knowing that when he replied he would be blowing up my phone I left it in my locker. It had seemed like a smart decision at the time. I didn't think so much later when I came back to it at lunch to find not six, not ten, but twenty missed texts from the brunette.

It took all of my lunch hour to respond to him. Half to read the novel he had sent me and the other half to reply. Minhyuk was just as Jaehee had said understanding, and oddly happy for me.

It was an odd turn around from my best friend who kept insisting I get a hot girlfriend, to be encouraging me to score the man of my dreams instead. Which is what he was convinced that Myungjun had to be. Since I, the straight laced Jinwoo, was allowing anyone to call me something cutesy like Jinjin when I wouldn't even let him shorten my name.

By the time my last break rolled around I had another novel to read. It was then I realized we would probably be trading novel long texts all day. It only brought a smile to my face as I went about my work.

Before I knew it I was changing into normal clothing and waiting on Eunwoo to pick me up. It surprised me sometimes that he had a car and actually drove to work. When he pulled up window down and blinding smile in place, I could only smile back at him before ambling into the front seat.

I had driven with him before but I was always left wondering who gave him a license by the time we reached our destination. This time was no different. It felt like I was peeling myself out of the car when we pulled into the lot. He only flashed me an apologetic, if not empty, smile.

I didn't mind as much as I complained to him about his driving. At least he was driving and we weren't walking the eight blocks to get here. I looked up at the establishment he had chosen, a Korean barbecue joint that fit into both of our budgets. I smiled at the memories of us coming here before. It had been the first time we had hung out in an out of work setting.

Back then he had been dumped by his girlfriend and didn't want to be alone. It had been something of an eye opening night. Since then we had been closer. I could tell from the look on his face, when we were seated in the same spot as we had been then, that he was reminiscing as well.

The conversation was light, pleasant, and enjoyable. Just like it always was with Eunwoo. We were just starting to cook when I noticed Honey walk in with a very cute girl. I wasn't sure it was him though because of the distance and the very drastically different attire. In the clothes that suited him much more than his uniform he looked extremely pretty. "Isn't that Honey?" I nudged Eunwoo with my elbow, tongs in my hand as I flipped some of the meats we had ordered.

Eunwoo looked over at the couple obligingly and nodded with a gentle smile the tongs in his hands just as busy as those in my own. "Yeah I think that's his girlfriend with him." Eunwoo leaned forward squinting his eyes to see a little better. When he leaned back he smiled at me, his teeth showing. "We shouldn't disturb them it looks like they're on a date."

I nodded and looked at how cute they looked together. "I hadn't really expected him to date someone cuter than him." I commented off hand as I placed some meat into a piece of lettuce. I noticed the quizzical look Eunwoo was shooting me as I was shoving both into my mouth.

"I mean Honey is the pretty type so I thought he would date another pretty type." I shrugged grabbing another piece of meat this time just eating it plain. "I guess I thought he didn't like the cute type." I explained with a shrug.

Eunwoo didn't say anything for a moment studying the pair across the restaurant his expression thoughtful. "Did you know it's hard to date someone prettier than you?" His voice was low when he said it and his eyes were cutting when he looked at me. "I think they look cute together." He was smiling a little too wide and the emotion in his eyes didn't match the tone of his voice, authoritative and concrete.

I could only nod in agreement, a strained smile my reply under his unblinking stare. Studying his face I remembered the last time I seen his handsome face look like this, it wasn't that long ago. "Does this mean you were dumped again?" I knew I was right when his eyes drifted away from mine and back to the empty burner.

"I'm sorry Eunwoo." Patting his shoulder I called our waitress over and ordered some more meats that I knew he liked. I should have known something was up when he had been quiet in the car. I'd been too preoccupied with trying to stay alive while being thrown around my seat to notice.

"It's okay it's not the first time. And this time they didn't say it." He shrugged and started talking about it. I let him, listening intently as he told me the woes of being pretty. Again. I could understand though. I had never found a man, any man more attractive than me before Eunwoo and now Myungjun. I, of course, was never going to tell either of of them of that. I do have my pride. But when asked it is extremely hard to deny their good looks, if only to myself.

While he was talking I studied Eunwoo's features. He was definitely extremely pretty, handsome in the right moments. Over all just ridiculously attractive. While Myungjun made me feel like a potato when I wasn't fixed up, Eunwoo made me feel like a potato even when I was.

Sitting next to him now I could see all the waitresses flutter their eyelashes at him and giggle. He didn't notice, while he was aware he was good looking it wasn't something that went to his head. No it was something that went to his girlfriend's heads as they worried, pined, envied, and eventually dumped him. I hoped one day he found someone who loved him for who he was inside not the outside.

As I thought about that I wondered why I wasn't attracted to Eunwoo, he had plenty of male admirers. More than Honey even. But yet, I found that despite finding him handsome, I was more attracted to Honey and his girlfriend than to Eunwoo. At least when it came to looks. As we were talking my eyes kept drifting over to Honey and his girlfriend. They really were cute together.

I wondered if that was how Myungjun and I would look on our date, well minus the looking like two women part. They were sitting close, exchanging words softly, both wearing the biggest smiles, and looking like they were in a world of their own. I thought about what our date tomorrow was going to be like and my thoughts drifted back to the texts from Jahee and Minhyuk.

Both of them had given different advice on love and how to tell if you were truly into someone for their looks, their personality, or if you were just very into them as a friend. I had to wonder if their thoughts on it were really any help at all. They had suggested I envision kissing Myungjun to see if I was put off by it. Staring at Eunwoo while still listening I allowed myself to test the theory. I instantly wanted to go back three seconds before I had done so and rethink it.

It wasn't that the thought of kissing Eunwoo was disgusting or anything. It was just wrong. It was nothing like the thought of kissing Myungjun that followed next. I had to stop that thought as soon as it crossed my mind for fear of the heat over taking my cheeks. Eunwoo had already turned back to the food and our conversation had stilled into the silence of eating. I started it back up again to distract myself from the thought of Myungjun's plump lips and fluttering eyelashes as they closed or any other images my mind might like to try.

When Eunwoo dropped me off, or more like pushed me from his car in envy that I had weekends off, I had finally realized what kind of feelings I was falling into. When I arrived at my apartment I knew Myungjun would be at class yet I found myself staring at his door anyway. Memories of leaving his place playing out in my mind.

Though when I looked back at my own door I caught sight of someone on the stairs coming up. I shook my head before passing them on my way back down the stairs and towards the gym. I hadn't been in awhile anyway and I had too much to think about to just sit still while I did it.

I was halfway to the gym when I laughed out loud at my own actions. I was going to the gym to run away from the consequences of realizing I was in love with Myungjun. Myungjun, who likely had a girlfriend, the same girlfriend who had been heading up the stairs looking cuter than the last time I had seen her. Myungjun who I had a lunch date with tomorrow, who was flirting with me while I was pretty sure he was dating Emma.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The pace is going to pick up again soon. I hope it's transitioning naturally but if not let me know
> 
> Edited 6.25.18


	11. Nervous

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well somewhere along the way my plans for Emma changed. Minhyuk needs to come home before I finish this though. If I stick to the current plan.

I had been exhausted when I finally hit my bed last night and I was still exhausted when my alarm sounded next to my ear. I'd returned home after working out more than I had in months. It hadn't been the smartest move I'd ever made.

I was going to be a little sore today I realized as I lifted my arm to shut off the annoying ringing. I was at least happy to be in my own bed and not on Myungjun's couch. Or at least my groggy thoughts told me I should be happy about it when I sat up rubbing my eyes with the heels of my hands. Glancing at the time I sighed to myself.

My lunch date with Myungjun was in three hours and I still hadn't resolved my feelings about Emma. This could be a date, not a 'date' like Honey's. I had told myself over and over last night. Yet every time I had thought it my heart had hurt. And as I was lifting weights I had pictured doing some not very nice things to Emma.

Of course I'd never act on those thoughts. But it startled me that they were even there as I had never been the jealous type, not that I had been given the opportunity to be jealous. I'd been on maybe a handful of dates in my life,l. But I wasn't going to linger on those thoughts and allow myself to become more nervous.

Getting up and getting ready didn't take as much time as I thought it should have. I'd already thought about what I was going to wear the night before and digging out the few nice things I had to wear didn't take much effort. A quick if not thorough shower later and outfit number three made me feel like I wouldn't look like a potato next to my date. While still casual enough I didn't have to call it a 'date' outfit.

A glance over of my apartment, once I finally left my bedroom, told me that I probably should have cleaned first. The plates were still on the counter from when Jaehee was over, there was a take out bag from a week ago by the bottom of the island, and my trash can was over full. Not to mention the number of miscellaneous clothing articles around the room. A jacket thrown over one of the chairs, a pair of socks lurking by the couch, and I didn't know what was hanging over my small movie rack.

Sighing to myself I at least picked up the clothing. It turned out to be a throw blanket that had hidden my movies. Probably from when I had been running late one day for something or other. Housework was something I did on as needed basis. Unfortunately since Myungjun had moved in I hadn't paid it as much mind as I usually did. Though if I were honest, it was always like this whenever I started sleep walking again. Once everything was sleep walking proofed I generally left it until I had stopped sleepwalking for the moment.

I looked at the time on my phone, which was about to die any second from spending all night in my pocket and no time on the charger. I had an hour left. I thought about my options as I plugged my phone in. I could either speed clean or just make sure that Myungjun didn't step foot inside my apartment.

One of those sounded easier than the other. But I've always believed in the saying 'the hard path is often more rewarding'. So with that in mind I situated myself on the couch and texted Minhyuk about how nervous I actually was. Not that I thought he was going to be much help, but I still missed him being around. If he were here he probably would have tried to pick out my clothes for me.

When there was a knock on my door some forty-five minutes later. I told myself I was jumping because I had actually gotten engrossed in my music, social media, and texting. That it was not because I was watching the time for the last fifteen minutes like a hawk. That it wasn't because I was expecting Myungjun to show up early, like he had.

He was now outside my door waiting to take me on a date. I sat for a few seconds longer as I could feel my heart beating much like it had the first time I woke up on his couch. I didn't have to force myself to smile when I opened the door it was literally impossible not to knowing what was waiting for me.

I didn't let my jaw drop, but it was a real struggle when I saw him standing there waiting for me looking breathtaking. I realized before that Myungjun when he wasn't trying was stunning. I thought it hard to believe that he could be even more so when he tried, but here he is doing it in casual clothes no less.

I was glad that this time I'd put a lot of effort into my own appearance even if it was just a casual look. A casual date, I reminded myself even as I observed the pink dusting on his cheeks. That little bit of pink told me he was nervous and that had my heart fluttering against my rib cage even harder.

"You look good." I found my voice admitting without my consent, sounding a lot more breathless than I had ever given it permission to. The smile that earned me was worth it, beaming at me from ear to ear with sincerity and the pink on Myungjun's cheeks grew darker. I pushed all thoughts of anything but us being together out of my mind as I stepped out into the hall turning to lock my door behind me. I was not going to think about Emma today.

The air felt a little stiff in a way that I hadn't expected it to. It wasn't unpleasant but I could feel the charge between us. A sort of spark that had never been truly absent but also never been quite so tangible.

"Not nearly as good as you look." Myungjun's reply was a few seconds late. And when I turned around the pink on his cheeks had grown darker and he'd half averted his eyes. I only then realized what he had been looking at was my ass. I could feel the heat climbing my cheeks at that thought, even as a jolt of guilt shot through my mind.

He didn't let my thoughts linger though instead smiling and winking at me as he spoke. Distracting me from my own thoughts as well as what he had just done with his words. "I hope you're hungry because I made a reservation for us." His voice was excited as he spoke lilting a little as he finished. "It's at a place I've been wanting to go to for awhile."

I put my key into my pocket, lifting an eyebrow at him. I let him make the plans, I just hoped my wallet could handle it. Reservation was a big word that it could only handle once in a blue moon. "I could eat." I answered him with my own wink and a grin that made him giggle as he pulled me by the arm over to the stairs.

It was nice, an unexpected contact which ended too soon his arm falling away as we started down. His arm was now hanging limply by his side and my arm was already feeling the loss after the short contact. But we were moving quickly, a brisk stride and he started talking again his words animated and happy. He looked cute I thought as I listened.

"I wasn't sure what kind of food you like," He started and his eyes sparkled when they looked back at mine, like they had a light of their own. I had never resisted the urge to kiss someone so badly as I stared at his lips while they moved around the words. Even as he spoke our bodies moved us around the corner with ease, the route to the lobby familiar.

I had to wonder how I was going to make it through lunch if I couldn't even make it through the hallway without wanting to do something I shouldn't. "I figured what Korean doesn't like barbecue so I set up a reservation for that one really fancy one down by the..." He was still talking but I was already frozen when it dawned on me where were were going. Well mentally frozen as my feet kept following Myungjun of their own accord. I was on autopilot as we climbed into a taxi after exiting the lobby.

We had been sitting there in silence for a moment, my brain trying to do some quick math of how much of anything I was going to be able to afford after this meal when he spoke again. "Jinjin..." I looked at him and I felt like a deer in the headlights I hadn't been listening to a single word he had said in the last three minutes. Instead I'd been mentally watching the money fly from my wallet. "This is a date, I'm paying so stop counting won and focus." He tilted his head and smirked at me like he had seen right through my poker face.

"H-how did you know?" I felt the heat gather on my cheeks as I looked over at him and away from the window. I was feeling more comfortable with this than I should have. I had never shut down like that about money except the one time Minhyuk, Jaehee, and I had decided to go to a really fancy place by ourselves to celebrate our adulthood.

The whole ride back to our places I had spent the time listing all the things I was going to have to do without. Until Jaehee kindly reminded me that it had been worth it and smacked me. Of course this had been after Minhyuk had already calmed him down from his own dramatics.

Myungjun smiled and I felt something inside me shifting towards the 'I want to kiss him' thoughts again. Thoughts I hadn't had until Minhyuk's stupid advice of picturing what it would be like. Since then I hadn't really been able to stop thinking about it or the heated eyes from my dreams that kept overlapping with Myungjun's.

I pushed those thoughts away with the knowledge that he hadn't really clarified what kind of date this was. Even if we were going to the most expensive place in the neighborhood. I didn't let my thoughts drift further than that focusing only on the fact we were getting to know each other better.

"It might have something to do with the list you've been muttering." Myungjun giggled again before relaxing against the seat, his hand brushing mine where it rested. I pushed down the idea of grabbing his hand with willpower alone. "It's okay. My family is pretty well off." He stated and I looked over at him curiously we hadn't really talked that much about ourselves before despite the odd circumstances that surrounded our friendship. What I less than secretly hoped could become a budding romance.

"Well off?" I inquired shifting in my seat to look at him ignoring the taxi driver who was eyeing us through the mirror. "What do you mean? Do they pay for everything?" I had wondered how he was affording his apartment when I hadn't seen him do more than leave and return from school. There were no uniforms in sight, or anything more than textbooks visible when I was in his apartment. I at least kept an extra name badge by the door for the days I was running late to work.

Myungjun blushed again and I wondered if I might have been rude. "Well it's not that they pay for everything I made a few investments early and that pays my rent at least." He scratched the back of his head with his other hand smiling widely at me. "It wasn't anything more than childish whims that just happened to pay off." He shrugged and looked out the window thoughtfully we were close to our destination.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited 6.25.18


	12. Emma

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter got a face lift with editing. Why do I let myself write & POST when I know I'm sick? Like obviously it will need a lot of work when I'm feeling better. Sigh I promise I'll have more self control next time.

Before I was able to ask Myungjun what his investments were or what his family did we were stopping. Myungjun telling the taxi to pull over. The restaurant was now within walking distance, I didn't mind walking the rest of the way even if I was a little sore.

One glance at the road ahead showed that it was congested, a mini traffic rush had hit. I knew that if we didn't walk it would probably have us stuck in a traffic jam instead of making our reservations. The street along the way was filled with little shops that sold oddities and tourist items. Shops that I hadn't been in for several years now. The last time I had was with Jaehee and he had drunkenly bought the biggest star plush they had. He still had it refusing to get rid of it after he found out how much it had cost.

Looking back at Myungjun curiously as he paid the driver I could see him telling some joke making the driver laugh as he pulled away. I pretended not to feel the tug on my heartstrings as Myungjun joined me on the sidewalk, closer than I thought he would be. His hand was hanging next to mine, our hands brushed together as we began to walk in the direction of the restaurant. It was quiet for a moment. A comfortable lull as Myungjun and I both eyed the stores. I wanted to ask him about what he had been saying but I didn't want to pry.

"I know you want to ask." Myungjun suddenly said stopping in front of one of the stores that tourists liked. "You know it's okay to ask me things about myself." He smiled widely at me as he nodded his head towards the store beside us. "My grandpa owns a store like that one, he has ever since I can remember. When I was younger instead of buying me presents he bought me stock. He'd come to ask me which stock I wanted and like the kid I was I told him my favorite toys." Myungjun chuckled at the skeptical face I gave him, in return he only smiled and started walking again.

I followed him listening as he went on with a shrug. "I know it's hard to believe. He thought it would encourage me to join the business field like him and not become like my parents. It's not like I'm 'that' well off. I just picked some toys that hit it big for awhile."

I nodded dumbly and he winked at me. I could only think of the toys I liked growing up, how big some of them still were and how a lot of them flopped. "That makes sense." I found myself giggling at some of the more outlandish toys that had been made and listed a few only to make him groan over how weird they were.

"What toys did you even play with?" I asked him after we covered the worst toys of our childhood. The nervous tension that had seemed to follow us from the car now gone. Replaced instead by sharing memories of our childhood favorites, pointing out the various items in the windows we passed.

By the time we got to the restaurant I had almost forgotten where we were going. But then it loomed before us, fancy and dress code strict. Except it wasn't and those were just my memories of the last time I had been there so long ago. Memories of the poor person who lived on very little food for the rest of the month.

As if he sensed my hesitation Myungjun grabbed my hand pulling me inside. To my surprise nothing had changed everything was still posh, luxurious, and not nearly as daunting as I remembered it being. I smiled over at Myungjun apologetically and he only winked at me as the hostess approached us.

I could hear the sounds of meat cooking and the low chatter of the other customers. Muted by the partitions that surrounded every table. I didn't listen to Myungjun as he told the hostess our reservation instead I looked around at the decor.

Everything was done in light cherry woods the red standing out against the white partitions they were attached to. They reminded me of the meats that could be heard sizzling behind them. The floor was hardwood with black speckled tiles inlaid at intervals with delicate patterns etched into them by the tables.

The last time I had been here we had sat at the table next to the tile with a monkey engraved in it. I was distracted from my memories when Myungjun's hand grabbed mine, pulling me along as the hostess seated us. I could feel the heat climbing my neck as he didn't let go instead interlacing our fingers when I caught up to him. He didn't look at me instead following the hostess with his eyes. If anyone was looking at us or even acknowledged we were holding hands I didn't notice. Instead my fingers were memorizing the way his fit with mine.

When we reached our table, in a far corner in the back where it was quiet, the hostess smiled. Professionalism written across her face when she looked at us ushering us into the seats. They were the most comfortable chairs I had ever sat in at a restaurant. I smiled at our hostess as she went over the specials. All of them going in one ear and out the other as Myungjun's hand was still in mine. But I could see him nodding from the corner of my eye.

I didn't dare look at him yet with the hostess there. I was feeling like a horrible date by the time she walked away, professional smile never slipping even when Myungjun had snatched both menus from her with one hand and a boyish smile. I hadn't said a word since we entered. Then when I turned to look at him fully all the words I had been planning to say fled at the sight of his perfection.

"Jinjin," He had turned to look at me as well, adorable lopsided smile in place. When his eyes met mine they were heavy and his lids were halfway closed, he was leaning forward. Then suddenly he was grinning widely, squeezing my hand before letting it go to grab hold of the other side of the menu he was holding.

"What kind of meats do you like?" He fluttered his eyelashes at me. I wondered if maybe just a second ago he had been resisting the urge to kiss me. I shook that thought away and paid attention to the choices he began to read off to me. Conveniently leaving the price tag off, but I still knew which ones would cost the most. Which ones always cost the most.

Two minutes after we had been sat our waiter wandered over to take our drink order. It had been ample time to peruse their extensive drink menu. Yet neither of us had glanced at it instead already caught up in the meat menu, with Myungjun attempting accents with each one. I had been mid laugh when the waiter had stopped in front of our table.

There was a quick squabble over the menu that ensued before Myungjun was sending the waiter away for more time. Then he began reading me the drink list instead of the meats. I was already laughing by the time he reached the teas his accents back this time joined by funny expressions.

By the time the waiter came back for our drink order it no longer felt like the fancy restaurant I was hesitant to enter again. After the order was in I smiled warmly at Myungjun who was now listing the side choices, even though we had yet to actually decide what meats we were going to order. He finished just as the waiter came back with our drinks, inquiring politely if we were ready to order.

At this point the staff at most of the places I are at would have had to hold back their eye roll at the idea we weren't ready yet. But here the waiter only smiled politely and retreated. I smirked at Myungjun and listed what I wanted by mimicking his own earlier accents and expressions. He was still giggling when the waiter came back around for our order.

Once the menus were collected and we were just waiting for our food to arrive the conversation drifted through topics. I could feel my nervousness creeping up on me again. It wasn't the same as it had been on the few dates I had been on before. For some reason that underlying feeling of don't fuck up wasn't there. It was comfortable, as if this was the fifteenth time we had gone out together not the first.

Yet I was still nervous. With butterflies beating their way through my stomach whenever he looked into my eyes. I wanted to ask him if he felt the same way but I lost my chance when the food arrived. It wasn't until I saw the food before us I realized just how much we had ordered. My guilt over Myungjun's wallet was squashed though when he started declaring that one third of my favorite dish was his when he hadn't wanted to order it.

I realized what he was doing of course, what he had been doing the whole time. And I was grateful. The smile never left my lips the whole time we were there, our conversation light but telling. I felt myself falling deeper into love by the time we left, walking too close together. Chatting about new topics once we were outside.

When we passed the tourist shop I dragged him inside telling him about the adventures of drunk Jaehee. He only laughed and pointed out the largest plush in the place, it was a cute turtle. We found it tucked away in a corner where the sun was bathing the merchandise with it's bright light. We were turned away from it, our backs to the store and it felt like we were in a world of our own.

Myungjun pulled the turtle to his chest rubbing his nose against its beak like mouth. "It reminds me of you." His dark eyes were sparkling again as he looked at me, and paired with the way the sun was hitting him through the window it took my breath away. I felt the heat overtake my face. I wasn't sure if it was because he was comparing me to a turtle or the fact he was practically kissing said turtle while saying it reminded him of me.

"How does that remind you of me?" I tried to sound incredulous but the smile he shot me told me that I had failed. So I pouted instead which only made him smile wider. And I thought about doing a lot more than kissing him when his eyes met mine. The same look in them as the eyes from my dream, no overlap needed.

"Well for one..." Myungjun was leaning over towards me, voice lowering as he spoke. "It's cute like you are," He was only a few inches away and I felt my heart stop as his eyes stared into mine. "and he's slow." He pushed the turtle into my lips with a laugh before pulling it back to himself turning to kiss it discreetly. I forced myself not to think too much about it and attempted to pull out my angry Jinwoo card. It didn't work though as he only giggled an apology saying I should have seen the look on my face.

I told him I'd only forgive him if he bought me something sweet to make up for it. One giant turtle purchase later found us at a table for three with the turtle in the extra chair alongside a cute puppy plush that he told was for a classmate whose birthday was coming up. I found myself curious about his school life as we sat there. I'd seen his notebooks everywhere but no subjects written on them and I knew for certain that he shared a class with Emma. "What's your major?" I blurted out between bites of ice cream.

"My major?" Myungjun took a quick bite of his own ice cream and shrugged a conflicted look over taking his face. "I don't think you've heard of it. It's called oneirology it focuses on the study of sleep and dreaming, I am also taking a few business classes." He shrugged and I felt the air around him become a little darker than I liked.

I couldn't help myself as I spoke again my conflicted feelings coming to light. "Does Emma have the same major?" I wanted to take my words back at his confused look I wanted to say it didn't matter but he was shrugging. Answer falling from his lips as if it were natural to talk about your girlfriend when you're on a date. And suddenly my own mood was soured. I looked at the turtle as he answered I didn't want to see him talking about her with whatever emotion he might show in his eyes.

"Emma? Oh yeah she shares some of my professors for our major. She takes day classes mostly though so I don't really see her much to go over the material. I just borrow her notebooks instead. Or well it's more accurate to say that I steal them and don't return them until she comes for them." Myungjun's voice was nonchalant and I wanted to ignore it. Then he was going on again with a frown in his words. "She's really pushy just because she's older."

I only nodded because from what I had seen of her other than being quiet she was indeed very pushy. I thought about all the times we had run into each other around Myungjun and the way she drew his attention away with purpose. I tried to remind myself that I didn't know her well and the fact she was Myungjun's girlfriend was not reason enough to hate her.

"She has been even pushier since you showed up." Myungjun was talking again and I hazarded a look in his direction he was waving his spoon around as he spoke. "You know, she told me to ask you out the first night we met." He was smiling fondly at the memory and I felt my brain shutting down around his words trying to pick them apart for the meaning.

"She kept trying to get me to ask you every time she saw us together. Whispering in my ear being so pushy." Myungjun was pouting and looking adorable but my brain was too busy working overtime on what he had said for me to register that. "You wouldn't believe the pick up lines she told me to use."

He stopped probably realizing that I wasn't listening, my face was scrunched up in thought. The moment I realized what he meant I was blurting it out without control. "You mean you're not dating Emma?" I looked at his face for confirmation and only saw a slight frown of disgust.

"This is why I said you were slow. Of course I'm not dating Emma, like no offense to her but ew." Myungjun crinkled his nose and I wanted to reach across the table and kiss him. I didn't though instead I let out the laugh of relief that had building up inside of me since I realized what he was saying.

"Jinjin you really need to get it under control." He said after a minute but his chin was in his hand on the table and his eyes were filled with fondness. When I finally settled down he pulled me up by the hand and grabbed the turtle and puppy with the other. I realized now that the puppy was probably for Emma but I didn't mind anymore.

We visited a few more stores before I made him flag down a taxi as my soreness was catching up with me. I realized only after we got in the taxi we had been together for three hours not counting the car ride and walk to the lobby. The car ride was filled with mindless conversation I was still too afraid to ask where this left us and Myungjun hadn't offered to inform me.

I knew now though that this was a 'date' like Honey's had been. And I suddenly felt the urge to ask him where the best date spots were. When we got back to our building the walk up the stairs was silent and I wondered again where this left us. He saw me off at my door saying he really ought to study some, though the look in his eyes said something else.

The moment I collapsed on my bed, after changing into my most comfortable sweats and a cut off tee, I pulled my phone out. There were six missed texts from Jaehee, Minhyuk, and one from another coworker asking me to take their shift tomorrow. I turned them down instead replying with all the details to my best friends.

I didn't think I could feel more over the moon. But there was still a nervousness settling in the back of my mind. Many great first dates hadn't lead to second dates in my history. Even if all of those first dates paled in comparison to this one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guys the end really is neigh this time. The painting is on the wall. Granted the wall is like six feet away it's still there.
> 
> Edited 6.25.18


	13. Breakfast

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've rewritten this chapter I don't know how many times now. I'm just gonna go with it okay?

I had spent most of the night tossing and turning so when I woke up, feeling rested and warm I wanted to question exactly what the universe was trying to pull. My groggy thoughts were a little foggy around the edges as I felt something shift underneath me, warm and soft. And breathing I realized a whole minute later before I shot up with a 'Fuck.'

I rubbed the sleep from my eyes only to see Myungjun laying under me, his face full of emotions I recognized from my previous dreams. He was pulling me towards him his eyes closing with heavy lids, lips inches from mine. He didn't feel like Myungjun as he ran his lips over my neck, hands wandering silently over my back.

My phone vibrating against my leg startled me awake and I wasn't sure if I was relieved or upset when I was forced into actual wakefulness. I wasn't sure when I nodded off but it must have been while I was texting. When I pulled my phone from my pocket I had several missed notifications and one missed call.

It was enough to distract me from my dream for a few minutes as I scrolled through them. The call had been from a different coworker asking me to take their shift. As I texted them a quick 'no' I rolled out of bed. It took more effort than I wanted to admit as I was now more sore than I had been. I had collapsed on my bed to text after fervently cleaning my apartment to chase away the after date nervousness that had settled into my stomach. The nervousness of if there would be another date.

As I went in search of painkillers the images from my dream began playing out in the back of my mind. The Myungjun in my dream hadn't really looked like the Myungjun of waking hours. He had been warped in the way that dreams do sometimes. Where even if they look the same as their counterpart they just aren't.

I shook the images away and settled onto my couch with my phone replying to my missed texts. I turned on the drama I had been furiously trying to finish the last couple of days and refused to dwell on the dream I'd had before waking up. It wasn't quite midnight but I was wide awake now.

While I watched the drama unfold I did my best to force my thoughts to rest. It didn't work though as they kept drifting back to Myungjun and what he might be doing now. He normally had night classes so it wouldn't be surprising if he were awake. I had to force my eyes away from the small pile of keys I had found while cleaning. I switched over to a more interesting drama and texted Minhyuk asking him when he was coming home. I was certain that he knew by now and had just forgotten to inform me.

I was halfway through the episode when Minhyuk texted me back. I was surprised he was still awake but I had zero interest in finding out why he might be awake as he was still on a cruise with his girlfriend. He told me that they were expected back late Monday, early Tuesday. But unless I wanted to pick him up instead of his might as well be father-in-law he wouldn't be 'home' until the next day.

I had mistakenly asked on the group chat so I spent the next few hours telling both of them about how I was not going to attend a huge welcome home party. And I most assuredly wasn't going to arrange for them to meet Myungjun at said huge welcome home party. I had to tell them repeatedly it was just a date and that we were by no means dating, yet.

Even so by the time I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore I had already agreed to having a small welcome home party at my place. With the condition that if Myungjun wandered by I was obligated to introduce them.

With that settled I let my eyes close and the world of dreams embrace me again. I hoped that if I was going to dream about Myungjun again it would be more realistic. Though even as I drifted off I told myself that I wasn't asking to dream about him either.

Everything felt fuzzy and warm as I wandered through the field of flowers in my dream. Though even as it felt cozy there was an ever present feeling of distraught. That something was missing, there was something I needed to find. My feet kept on moving passing by each flower as if they weren't there, their scents filling my nose.

The sun overhead wasn't too hot and the wind against my skin wasn't too cool. Everything felt perfect except that niggling feeling in the pit of my stomach that kept my feet moving forward. I wasn't sure how far I walked before I found it, I finally found what I was looking for. I could feel it in the pit of my stomach as I came upon another person. They were picking flowers, weaving them into crowns with their back towards me.

"Jinjin..." I heard someone calling my new nickname in the distance. Vaguely I wondered who it could be as I moved closer to the person in front of me. I could hear them humming now and I thought I recognized the voice.

"Jinjin you need to move." I wasn't sure if the voice was in my dream anymore. I stepped forward, now within a foot of the person inside my dream. I wasn't sure why but I felt I knew who it was without seeing their face. While I found this made part of me happy the other part was scared of what this meant.

"Jinjin seriously." The voice whined and I could feel my body being shifted outside of my dream but I held fast to sleep and fell onto the back of the person in my dream. Their face was turning ever so slowly to look at me. I knew who it was then and there was something very different about this dream than any previous dream.

"Jinwoo seriously my arm is asleep." The outside force pushed me over gently and I found myself blinking up at Myungjun, forced awake as I fell back into the cushions of his couch. He was rubbing his arm and eyeing a spot of drool with a wary eye.

"Myungjun..." I didn't sound or feel as tired as I know I should have. Of course I was embarrassed by the drool spot, and flustered by the radiant smile he was now beaming at me but something felt different. "I slept walked in here again..." I looked at his arm and the position of my legs and wanted to die as the puzzle pieces fell together.

There was no doubt in my mind that I had cuddled up to him in my sleep, and he had let me. "I'm so sorry." I was on my knees apologizing faster than I ever had before, I could feel the heat on my cheeks as he looked at me.

"Why are you apologizing? Is it about the drool? It will dry. I liked the cuddly side of you." Myungjun's voice was sincere and I wanted more than anything to kiss him. When I hazarded looking up he winked at me before stretching as if he had been asleep as well.

Swallowing thickly I had to look away as his shirt rose up, muscles stretching underneath in a very visible way as he spoke. "As to sleepwalking in...Don't worry about it at this point..." I could see the fine dusting of pink on his cheeks as he let his sentence trail off as he looked at me.

"Anyway," He cleared his throat and made to stand up. "What do you want for breakfast? I mean I know you mentioned a breakfast date before but I wasn't expecting our second date so soon." He sent me a grin as he made his way to the kitchen. "Or do you want to go out on a breakfast date?" He let his eyes trail over my body as I followed him, I wasn't wearing more than sweatpants having thought my bout of sleepwalking was over.

Doing my best not to blush I let his words sink in and I checked the time on my phone ignoring the last message from Jaehee about just inviting Myungjun over for the party. "Why not just eat here? I'll help you cook this time." I offered with a smile and he only grinned at me like he had won the lottery before motioning me over. I resisted the urge to kiss him as he gave me a rundown of what he had in the fridge and what we could make. All the while his eyes were sparkling with delight and he grabbed what I suggested setting it out on the counter.

He looked at me as he started preparations and I grabbed some of the ingredients. "Are you sure you know how to cook?" He eyed me dubiously as I smirked at him. I fully intended to show him up in the kitchen now.

"How about I cook for you then?" I pushed him towards the chair and sat him down. Kissing his forehead without a thought in the world before I turned back to the ingredients we had sat out. Quickly before I started to dwell on it I got to work. I could feel his eyes on my back the whole time but I didn't let it bother me.

As I went about his kitchen I wondered if this was what a second date was supposed to feel like as I'd never been on more than two before. And those could barely be seen as dates as even before I sat down they were always breaking up with me. As I cooked though Myungjun started a light conversation between my questions about item locations.

I said it was okay for him to make the coffee and pushed his fingers away from food he was trying to eat. Only to get a hard to resist pout in return that I refused to give into as I sent him back to the chair. It was fun. More fun than I had cooking in a long while. And as I set the plates out I only hoped he liked my cooking as much as I do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You can be honest and say it sucks. Things have really changed from that first draft I did for this story.
> 
> Edited 6.25.18


	14. Second date

I found myself watching Myungjun instead of picking up my own chopsticks. I had made a more traditional breakfast and his eyes were wide as he looked at it and I hoped that meant it looked good. I wasn't going to ask though I was going to wait until he tasted it and I saw the look on his face.

I had a groundless confidence that I would be able to tell if he were faking it. He must have known this though as he looked up from the food, picked up his chopsticks, and stared directly into my eyes as he brought his first bite to his lips. I hid my impressed face as I smiled at him waiting.

Myungjun's eyes widened comically as he took the first bite. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes at the over dramatic reaction that followed. I knew he was being sincere even as I found myself in a fit of giggles over  
his exclamations.

When he had finally tasted everything and stopped over reacting he smiled at me. His eyes full of emotions I didn't want to put names to yet. I wanted things to go on like this, peacefully. Unfortunately fate had other plans for as soon as I opened my mouth to speak, I wasn't even sure what I was going to say, the door opened.

Both of us turned to look but I didn't need to look to know who it would be. I knew it was Emma and while I felt resolved in my feelings towards her yesterday, today my jealousy didn't hold back. I felt the small spike sink into my heart watching her waltz in as if she lived here.

To be fair though I did allow my conscience the guilty stab at myself for doing the same thing sleepwalking or not. Myungjun obviously felt comfortable enough to allow us to do so. I stored that thought for later as it dawned on me that he shouldn't have felt that way about me the first time.

"Myungjun have you..." She had started her long hair whipping behind her as she closed the door not yet seeing us. Her gaze was scanning over a bookshelf that was to the right of the door that I hadn't bothered to notice before. I realized she was probably looking for more of her notes that Myungjun had admitted to stealing rather than borrowing.

When she did turn to face us, her usual short shorts and slippered sleep attire for around the building was replaced by jeans and a form fitting tee shirt. When her eyes landed on me she looked just as ready to scream as she had that first night. Though there was something different in her expression this time, a small amusement or quirk of the lips. Or maybe it had been there before and I had overlooked it.

Instead of a scream what came out of her mouth was a squeal. I blinked and she was bouncing over to us long hair swishing freely behind her, a wide smile on her face. "Myungjun, you move a lot faster than I thought you would." She wiggled her eyebrows at him, even though her voice had been quiet I felt the heat climb my cheeks at what she meant.

"Emma..." Myungjun's voice was full of patience and I realized it was from long years of practice as he looked her in the eyes. Trying to mentally stop her from whatever she was about to say next. He wasn't quick enough at opening his mouth to say it verbally though as she looked down at our breakfast.

She continued right over him, pushing her hair over one of her delicate shoulders. Her eyes weren't on either of us as she spoke. Her small frame oozing excitement that didn't seem like it could be contained.

Her voice was still quiet but it cut through the air with a weight I didn't understand. "Does this mean you," A look of horror was crossing Myungjun's face at every word and his hands were in action before she could finish. "told him about being your," Emma's eyes grew wide and she found her mouth shoved full of rice, Myungjun was on his feet eyes stormy and conflicted.

I'd yet to see him angry until now but it was evident in the way his body stiffened and his face closed off that he was livid. He didn't spare me a glance as he pushed her down on the seat he had been occupying. Moving to fetch more plates and another mug of coffee. Not a word was said as Emma chewed quietly through the rice, her eyes not meeting mine instead resting somewhere near Myungjun's rice bowl and his coffee. Her face was just as conflicted as Myungjun's had been.

I blinked slowly as I watched, my thoughts turning around what Emma had been about to say. Yet I didn't want to ask. The storm hadn't left Myungjun's eyes as he placed a plate and mug of coffee before her telling her to eat then leave as he moved to stand beside me. I could feel his stiffness radiating off of him.

Emma begrudgingly did as told but slowly. And before long a conversation was going between the two of us. And I found that while she was quiet her personality was not. Eventually Myungjun's anger settled and he was leaning on me as the three of us spoke. There were only two chairs.

I didn't mind it much even when Emma wiggled her eyebrows again at the way his hand rested on my waist instead of my shoulder. I felt my face heating up again even though I realized it was a distraction. They didn't want me thinking about what she almost said.

I was inclined to indulge them though as I ate slowly and Myungjun stole more from my plate instead of fetching his own which soon came victim to Emma's appetite. By the time Emma left the two of us were standing by the island stacking dishes to wash.

It felt like maybe I was the one who lived there and she had been intruding. I willed the thought away along with the others to think about later, much later when I wasn't wearing next to nothing in my maybe to be boyfriend's house. It worked better when Myungjun absentmindedly kissed my shoulder as he leaned over me to place more dishes in the sink. Quietly I began washing them. I then had to spend the next five minutes erasing the feeling of his chest pressed against my bare back from my mind.

As we washed we found ourselves in easy conversation once more. The incident with Emma all but forgotten, except I could see the effects still lingering in the looks he kept giving me when he thought I was focused on a dish. When he asked if I had plans after this I pretended to think about it hard as he gave me a pout.

I didn't have plans, not really other than grocery shopping that could wait a few days and I knew it but I couldn't help wanting to tease him a little bit. If only to see the smile back in his eyes. It didn't last for long though because soon I was giving in running a hand over his cheek as he hugged me in delight. 

Everything felt perfect. Yet a niggling feeling was born in the back of my mind at how perfect it felt. How natural and comfortable it had always felt and what Emma had been about to say.

I was able to ignore it though as Myungjun told me I should go put on a shirt and come back over to while the day away with him before he had to sleep. He told me as we put the dishes away that he was going to be leaving after class tonight/tomorrow to return home for some meeting back at his family's main house.

Which meant he wouldn't see me until Wednesday. I didn't want to admit how sweet I found it that he was telling me like he was going to miss me more than he wanted to admit aloud. I felt the same way but I didn't tell him. I instead planted a soft kiss on his forehead as I walked by where he had settled down on the couch heading back to my place.

I pulled my phone out in the hallway making a note that he would be gone and an alarm to announce him coming back on Wednesday. I bit back my overly large smile as I greeted Mari on her way down the stairs. She was carrying some sort of project that she had probably originally forgotten.

Texting Minhyuk and Jaehee I put my phone away and continued to my place. Finding a cut off tee that wasn't too showy, not that Myungjun hadn't seen my chest twice now, to wear. I felt the heat on my cheeks as I recalled all the simple but natural kisses we had given each other so far.

It was odd with the girls I dated before I had felt nervous, giddy, and scared. There was none of that with Myungjun even though I was still nervous to kiss his lips, I knew that if I did it wouldn't be that heart pounding nervous. Instead I felt it would be warm, contenting, and perfect. I found my thoughts drifting back to what Emma hadn't said and the feelings I had been having.

The answer seemed like it was right there, like that puzzle piece you've looked over six times. Yet I felt like if I saw the answer I would only have more questions. The feeling only intensified when I re-entered Myungjun's apartment to find the movie selections. All of them were romances.

I didn't mind though as he put the first one in then settled back down on the couch. I made myself comfortable cuddling into his side, my head on his shoulder and my arm wrapped around his back, my other hand holding his. And suddenly as the second movie began playing, the lovers on screen soulmates torn apart by time, I really wanted to know what Emma had been about to say.

I hadn't realized I'd said it out loud until Myungjun had paused the movie to turn and look at me. His hand squeezing mine before pulling away, his eyes were stormy again and unsure. I swallowed thickly as I realized I was about to get my answer and he didn't think I would like it. And even though I had asked and I wanted to know, no I needed to know, I knew I wasn't going to like it either.

Because it would change things, because then I couldn't pretend not to be so madly in love with him in only a week. I couldn't pretend not to notice he was as equally madly in love with me, and that it meant something. Something much deeper and heavier than I was sure I could handle.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts much appreciated.
> 
> Edited 6.25.18


	15. Dream Walking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Somehow we made it this far...

"Jinjin..." I could see the conflict in Myungjun's eyes as they settled on mine but he looked resigned. As if my simply asking was all that he had been waiting for. "I..." He swallowed and pulled his legs up under his chin looking at me and I moved backwards doing the same as I pulled my feet up to look at him. His eyes were sad as if he had done something wrong. I didn't say anything though and for a long moment we sat there. Our thoughts hidden away as we felt the mood around us break.

I wanted to take my words back. Yet at the same time I didn't, I wanted to know why he wasn't mad about my sleep walking into his apartment, why he let me stay, why he felt comfortable to be around, and what I was to him. Whatever Emma had been about to say was important and I knew it. I could feel it held all the answers. So I didn't speak as he turned away from me, head resting on his knees a faraway look in his eyes as he stared at the door. He was going to answer because I had asked.

"I don't really know where to start." He finally said with a loud sigh and squeezed his legs tighter. He looked like he had thought long and hard about what he was about to say and yet in the moment the words were failing him. He ran a hand through his hair shaking his head afterwards, a small groan falling from his lips.

"I guess it's best to start at the beginning." There was a small sigh then he was looking at me, stormy eyes now cleared with resolve. "I know a lot of this is going to cause more questions than it's going to answer but if you bear with me I promise I have the answers."

I could only nod mutely as I made myself comfortable, chin on my knees with my arms wrapped around my legs. Something told me this was going to be a long discussion. One that felt too early and at the same time felt long overdue. The conflicting emotions I felt settled almost instantly as he took a large breath and closed his eyes his voice was soft, quiet, and ethereal as he started talking again. I was drawn into every word.

"I should start with what I am." Myungjun's smile was gone replaced with a grimace as he spoke but I couldn't take my eyes off his lips, the desire to kiss him was stronger now. I hated seeing him like this, I hated knowing that my needing answers was the cause even if it was a good one.

"Don't get me wrong I'm human." He added quickly with dark humor and a side glance my way. Then the humor was gone and he stared at the image on screen. It was the image of a tree lined street the main characters walking awkwardly down it together.

"My ancestors were from a small clan that had formed in some era I've forgotten already that served the government in China. Directly under the emperor. They served as psychics to interpret dreams, that's how it started anyway. Later they, we became something else." He paused looking over at me in his peripheral vision, his hands clasping tighter before he re-trained his eyes on the tv screen.

At this point I was nodding slowly I didn't understand what he was getting at but I knew he would get to his point and I would have to let him. I couldn't rush him and I was okay with that. His voice was steady as he continued. "Emma is part of the same clan, we're known now as Dream Walkers." He didn't pause in his explanation but something heavy lifted from his shoulders at the revelation.

"As our ancestors did before us to serve the emperor we now do as a way of life." There was a minor tremble in his voice as he went on, a small fear that I wouldn't believe him. "We walk among other's dreams unseen. Back when they started using this skill it was more useful than it is today. My Grandpa uses it for business, my parents for research." The tremble continued after a deep breath, his words rushing together but concise and not unintelligible. "For us, Emma and I it's only use is guiding us to our soulmate." Myungjun swallowed thickly and forced his eyes on the door avoiding mine.

For a few long moments he let silence reign and in that silence I soaked in the information. It was for the most part unbelievable. Walking through people's dreams? What use was that even? I didn't ask though I didn't have to for as the silence grew heavy Myungjun started talking again the steadiness of his voice back. As if he had finally gotten control over his thoughts. I could only listen intently my questions being answered one by one as he spoke.

"I know you're wondering what being a Dream Walker means. I asked too when I was young before I could do it, before it became my way of life. We, I walk through other's dreams." He paused his eyes drawn back to the image on screen again as he spoke his arms loosening around his legs. Visibly he resigned himself to revealing all of his secrets.

"I have the ability to control other's dreams while I'm in them to an extent. Which means I can make good dreams nightmares," The look on Myungjun's face was far away as he went on as if he were talking about someone else. It felt like he was talking about someone else as I clutched my legs to myself tighter, my eyes focused on his expressions.

"I can make them dream about certain things and gather information about them or their life. It's what my Grandpa does for business...I don't use it like that." I could feel his eyes on me but I was no longer looking at him.

"It's not that I always enter other people's dreams. When I was younger, before I could control it I did but now I limit myself to a few strolls every few months. I don't normally mess with anyone's dreams except to make them better if they are bad. Though they never know I'm there the dream just gets better for them." I heard him shrug his shoulders and take a deep breath before he went on quieter than before.

"There's only one person whose dreams I can't affect and who can see me. The dreams of my soulmate," I could hear him swallow thickly and I felt an unnecessary blush creep up to my cheeks as he stared at me, judging my reaction as he continued. "I entered their dreams when I was young, too young to have any idea what I was doing."

I took in the tree lined street on screen and how clear the path was. Suddenly what had been my own clear path wasn't so straight or clear anymore. Something had clicked in what he said. The way the girls would say they had bad dreams, nightmares that wouldn't go away or scared them too much when they dated me. Or before dates with me.

I was still listening even as the pieces of the puzzle I wasn't sure I wanted to put together fell into place. Understanding was dawning as he expanded upon what he meant. What he was saying wasn't lost on me.

"When I met them, my soulmate," Myungjun shifted nervously on the couch, his toes wiggling as his arms wrapped tightly around his legs again comforting himself. "I was too young to understand how they could see me in their dreams. I didn't understand that because of my innocent desire to see them more I caused them troubles. It was only when I was older that I found out that those that met their soulmate in dream too often before they could control their abilities caused their soulmate to sleep walk. If they were taught control in time their soulmate's sleepwalking would stop."

I swallowed thickly around the sudden lump in my throat. I didn't want him to continue, I knew what he was saying and I didn't want to hear it. Yet my voice caught, my lips remained glued, my body stiff, and my emotions numb. I knew that if I let him say it I couldn't pretend not to understand. But I did understand. He was telling me that not only was he my soulmate, he was the reason I was sleepwalking.

"It was too late by the time I learned control. I never knew though, not until now. I'm sorry Jinwoo." I could hear the tears in his voice as he apologized to me for something I was sure he couldn't help. Yet I didn't move and let him go on.

My thoughts circling memories I had long buried in the parts of my mind where I wouldn't look for them. Memories of the boy in my dreams that would talk to me, that I knew wasn't someone I had ever known. A boy that broke all the rules of dreaming. Myungjun was still talking as I delved through my memories but I was no longer listening.

Instead I thought about it all. Even when I was younger and started dreaming of the boy I knew he wasn't part of my dreams. The way he would waltz in excited and chatty no matter what was going on in my dream at the time. Somehow my dreams always became brighter when he entered even if I had been in the middle of a nightmare.

When I had started sleep walking it hadn't been long after the boy in my dreams stopped coming. I hadn't connected them before as I had buried all thoughts of him, they hurt too much to think about. And now I knew why. It was for the same reason I had started sleep walking, because I wanted to find him again. Now that I had I wasn't sure what to feel anymore.

At some point as I drifted away in my thoughts, putting the puzzle together Myungjun had stopped talking. When I looked at him he as looking at me with the saddest eyes I had ever seen. I wanted to kiss the sadness away, I wanted to fix it, I wanted to scream, and I wanted to run away all at the same time.

I found myself onto my feet the next moment. I wasn't sure what I looked like. But the look on Myungjun's face was resigned again and I wondered if he had thought this would happen. I pushed all those thoughts aside, too caught up in all the information. I could barely think right now as I put one foot in front of the other. I stopped though, I could feel his eyes on my back as he watched me.

I didn't want it to end like this. With confused feelings over the answers I had asked for. "I need to think about this." I didn't turn back around but I could hear him starting to cry as he mumbled a simple 'I understand' statement.

I was sure he did. That's why he had stopped Emma before. And yet he had answered my question when I asked even with this risk. I saved that thought for later and opened his apartment door and crossed the short distance to my own. I had a lot of things to think about.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If it's a let down...Tell me but be gentle about it okay? I have feelings!
> 
> As promised the first draft, unedited.
> 
>  
> 
> [First draft](https://shinigamibutterfly.tumblr.com/post/160164430998/dream-walking)
> 
>  
> 
> Edited 6.25.18


	16. Memory lane

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There should only be a few chapters left now. Next chapter Minhyuk is coming home <3

Upon entering my apartment the only thing I wanted to do was throw myself in bed and forget the conversation we had just had. To go back to a few hours before I had asked him, before Emma had come in, and back when things had felt almost too perfect.

It wasn't going to happen though and neither was sleeping because that meant he could 'enter' my dreams. Instead I put on real clothes and fled the apartment building with my shopping list in hand. I didn't think I'd actually get that far as I slowed to a walk, once the building was out of sight, instead of the jog I'd left in. My jumbled thoughts were still trying to come to some order, to make some sense of the information.

I found my way to a small park and positioned myself on a bench away from people to watch the time pass my thoughts as blank as I could make them for the moment. I pulled out my phone seeing the texts from Jaehee and Minhyuk encouraging me that I had ignored hours ago. I shoved my phone back in my pocket and ignored them again.

Talking to people was the last thing I wanted to do as I sat there. My thoughts finally lining up in some sort of sensical timeline of events. Memories I had left long buried pulling themselves from their graves to march in front of my mind's eye like some sort of morbid parade.

I could recall the first dream I had met Myungjun in. I had been around eight or nine at the time and he was beautiful like the sun in the nightmare I'd been having. It was the night after the first zombie movie my parents let me stay up and watch with them. It had been horribly written but it was enough to scare my eight year old self.

I was being chased by one of the half eaten corpses when he had appeared out of nowhere just watching. I had called to him asking why he wasn't helping me. His face then had been priceless now that I can recall it, I could recall it all with perfect clarity. I wondered if that was part of him being a Dream Walker.

After that it wasn't hard to realize he didn't belong in my dreams. Whether they were nightmares, sweet dreams, or just the average ramble of thoughts trying to piece together my day in a kaleidoscope of images. Whenever he appeared he was smiling, like he couldn't wait to see me.

My dreams never changed at his presence but they always improved. I had to wonder now if it was because of how happy I was to see him as well. That went on for a few years, him visiting my dreams. That was when my sleepwalking started as I tried to get closer to him in my dreams as he always appeared so far away.

When I was ten and a half he spoke to me for the first time finally close enough to so do. He would go on chattering about his own life asking about mine, I recalled when I learned his name. I felt the tears on my cheeks as I remembered when he first called me Jinjin.

It was half a year later when I turned eleven that he was gone. That was when I started sleepwalking more frequently and it didn't stop. Instead coming in short spurts that didn't last long but always resurfaced. 

I remembered it all. Yet I still felt empty as the tears rolled down my cheeks the memories of him in my dreams far sweeter than I had expected. Then there were the dreams now, the longing that started the moment he moved in.

The sexual urges that I now realized had nothing to do with him. Instead having everything to do with my own feelings towards him that had been buried since then. The feelings of longing and love that had once been pure had become different with age.

Memories of other dreams that starred Myungjun came to mind when I turned twelve and started to wonder what it was like to kiss someone. The dreams when I was fifteen and thought about what it would be like to be with someone. Dreams I had convinced myself I never had, because they all starred him.

Shaking my head I looked around only to see that midday had slipped into evening without my notice. I forced myself to my feet and drug them back to my apartment. Any trace of Myungjun was gone as I entered the hallway, the smell of incense that usually permeated the place at this time of night was absent. His pre-class ritual foregone. I hadn't thought I would miss it but I did as I opened my door the darkness inside unwelcome to my mood.

My thoughts drifted around his sincerity, and if he truly even liked me, let alone loved me. And what of my own feelings that felt warped now and twisted simply because they felt like they were pushed upon me. I knew though deep down, where the nickname Jinjin brought a warm feeling to the pit of my stomach and the thought of Myungjun's smile made me melt, what I was feeling.

There was only one answer no matter how unbelievable it was. How crushing and heavy the weight of it was. I still wanted to run away as I curled into my couch and turned on my TV to some drama I didn't actually care about.

All I could see was Myungjun's sad eyes staring into my own. My conflicted feelings plagued me as I watched. I wanted to sleep. Instead I put on something louder and more attention grabbing.

Despite my memories of him I couldn't wrap my head around the idea of fate. That for some reason we would be bound, that we could be soulmates. I wasn't even sure I believed in soulmates, yet I was slowly starting to wonder.

There was no denying Myungjun's dream walking, I had experienced that and while it was disturbing he hadn't done anything in my dreams. He had been there not quite an observer, not quite a bystander, but not quite anything else. My sleepwalking could have to do with his disappearance in my dreams, I was willing to admit. As Minhyuk had told me I was always looking for something it could just as plausibly been someone.

I allowed myself a chagrined smirk that, that maybe this was why it felt so comfortable, so perfect around Myungjun. I had found the man of my dreams. Yet even at that thought I wasn't sure what I was going to do with him yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts are always appreciated even if it's to say it's unrealistic and sucks. Just saying. I went a little drama heavy. lol
> 
> Edited 6.25.18


	17. Without

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're rushing towards the finish line now.

I must have drifted off to sleep on the couch again because when I woke up the TV was on. And I felt like shit curled up too tightly into a ball. My emotions were more stable even if everything felt a little more surreal than yesterday. I recalled that Myungjun wasn't home and everything that had been said yesterday.

All the feelings and memories that had risen to the surface. And suddenly I found myself with only questions instead of doubts. I had to wonder if it was because I had woken with a clearer mind or if he had visited my dreams. I shook those thoughts away though as I shut off my alarm. I would be picking Minhyuk up today after work.

I let that thought carry me through my morning routine before I finally texted back Minhyuk and Jaehee who had both blown up my phone. By the time I had made it to work they were both insisting I tell them what happened that I had disappeared for over eight hours without a word.

I could tell they were worried and they had right to be. But I still didn't want to talk about it, or at least not over text. I instead promised to tell them in person which led to Jaehee volunteering himself to drive instead of us taking a taxi to retrieve Minhyuk. I was grateful but I didn't say anything other than I was going to work as I shoved my phone in my locker. I found my thoughts drifting to what Myungjun was doing before I shook them away.

Work was long and tedious as I counted down the minutes. There was nothing I wanted to say and I didn't want to think anymore about what Myungjun had said or the questions I still had. Which of course left them circling my brain like rapid fire bullets.

The question of how he found me, how he knew. If he still remembered those dreams when we were younger. What made him so certain I was the 'one' so to speak. Why my sleepwalking had come in spurts and why it had continued after I 'found' him. If I would continue to sleepwalk now that I found him.

There were so many questions piling up yet the time seemed to eek by slowly as they sat unanswered. Even when I took my breaks the thoughts persisted and I couldn't help wondering if maybe I should just write them down. I found it didn't help. It only left me with a long list of questions I may never get to ask.

When Honey finally came in and my thoughts drifted back to when I had thought of asking for the best date spots were I felt like I had been put through the wringer. I must have looked it too as he patted my shoulder softly as I passed him by to leave, his cheery smile absent. I barely noticed distracted by my thoughts.

When Jaehee pulled up to the store in his car he didn't say a word as I climbed in and we headed towards the dock. Minhyuk had already texted saying he was going to be departing the boat soon and we could find him waiting with his girlfriend at the restaurant nearby.

Her Father was going to come pick her up as he knew she didn't want anything to do with him for at least a few hours and he was feeling the same. Something akin to cabin fever I was sure. They had just spent two weeks holed up in the same room on the same boat unable to escape each other for more than a few hours. I wondered if they would make it living together, but only shrugged the thought off knowing that Minhyuk knew what he was doing.

Even though the ride was quiet I could see Jaehee eyeing me the whole time, concern etched on his features. I didn't pay it any mind though as I let my mind wander. I found myself wondering little things about Myungjun that had nothing to do with my dreams or his recent revelation and I wondered if he had been wanting to learn these things about me.

The ride wasn't as long as I thought it was going to feel with the distance and the lack of discussion. I knew it was because Jaehee was good company even when we said nothing. Minhyuk insisted we eat when we arrived as we had driven all this way.

I was able to relax as we ate, Minhyuk telling us all about his trip even as he traded glances with Jaehee over my head. I knew what he was thinking, I ignored it instead discussing with the brunette's girlfriend about their trip. She was nicer to me this time than she was the last time we met.

Though it might have something to do with her good mood and having Minhyuk living with her. Which meant not worrying about me stealing all of his time anymore. I wasn't going to be petty about it as we laughed over their funny stories and her hands refused to leave her boyfriend's arm. Every time she did it, subconsciously claiming, I recalled the little touches from my date only the day before yesterday. 

When she finally left us my best friends turned on me demanding the details of what was going on. For as Minhyuk so kindly put it I looked like someone had told me my prized possession that I thought was made out of gold was simply pyrite. Jaehee unceremoniously told me I looked like my soul was snatched and I had a hard time telling them which one was more correct.

They both felt accurate. However I didn't tell them anything as I looked around at all the people enjoying lunch around us and thought about the secrecy that was probably involved in Myungjun's life and not just for having a 'soulmate'.

The drive back to my place was long this time as I tried to formulate my thoughts into coherent sentences. I suddenly appreciated the effort that Myungjun had put in before. Minhyuk and Jaehee for the most part allowed me the luxury of putting the words together.

Choosing to blare music while driving with the windows down. Their own thoughts clouding the car in snippets of conversation I couldn't really hear in the backseat. We were half way back before I felt like myself again deciding that no matter how I worded it they would understand better than anyone else.

My smile held out until we reached my apartment and the smell of incense was absent once more. There was an emptiness I hadn't expected to feel, but that I vaguely understood was possible to feel. When I ushered them inside snacks and drinks in hand I found my smile again.

It had been awhile since the three of us had been to my place and I only wished it was under better circumstances. I was a bottle in before I started talking about Myungjun. They had expected to wait longer I could tell when they blinked at me surprised when I started my tirade. But I didn't stop, telling them everything.

By the time I had reiterated everything Myungjun had told me and our dates I was staring at Minhyuk's 'I know something you don't' look and Jaehee's 'I'm determined to piece this together' look. They were dangerous by themselves but together meant I was in for a grilling. I swallowed and made myself comfortable on my couch in the blanket I had only just rediscovered.

Jaehee was the first to speak. "So he's saying he's your soulmate?" I nodded slowly my eyes might have been glassy at this point from drinking but I wasn't that far from sober. "And you've seen him in your dreams since you were young yet you couldn't remember...” I nodded again and he looked at Minhyuk who was still wearing his 'I know something you don't' look.

"And having re-met him now you’ve felt insanely comfortable around him for no reason? And been unable to look away from him?” Jaehee wasn't always the best at stringing sentences together when we were drinking. And this time I wasn't sure where he was going with these ones but I nodded along anyway wondering what his point was.

"His point is that despite the whole being a Dream Walker, Myungjun still caught your interest before you even remembered him." Minhyuk answered the statement I must have said aloud. He nodded to himself as he spoke, his words heavy in the room as they sank in. "Which means that you were feeling attracted to him regardless of this whole soulmate business so why get caught up in it now?" He held up his hand before I could answer.

"Sure it's weird and maybe creepy," He shrugged and Jaehee did the same his eyes studying my posture. "But if you look at it as someone overly eager to date you it's not that weird, we've all met those that are too serious too fast. He hasn't been like that. He's made everything perfect for you so that you didn't have to walk away with all bad memories when you left. He knew you were going to leave."

"How could he know I was going to leave?" I countered but something told me that Minhyuk was right. Everything Myungjun did was based on knowledge of me that he had and I didn't. Because I had buried those memories and those conversations.

He had lived with them searching for me just as much as I was searching for him in my sleep. I knew it, but it was hard to face that he hadn't thought about having his own good memories that he had only thought of mine. Knowing I wasn't going to chose him. "Isn't that creepy in it's own way?"

"Well maybe a little." Jaehee shrugged as he took another drink his eyes locking with mine. "But if you think about it, that almost perfect feeling only started when he did those things, things in his mind your soul would recognize even if you didn't." He shrugged again blue eyes crinkling around the edges as he went on. "I mean who would complain if it was going so smoothly except you."

I resisted the urge to laugh but only poorly. Minhyuk didn't even attempt it and the air lightened somehow. It was no longer scary that Myungjun thought we were soulmates and I didn't mind the idea as much as I used to. Because Jaehee was right and Minhyuk had a point.

We continued talking and drinking into the night and by the time we were done talking about it, the two of them passed out on my floor. I still didn't want to see Myungjun yet. But I thought about the long stretch of the day tomorrow and wondered if even that would change. As since the first moment I met him I hadn't been able to stop thinking about him and that was in it's own way kind of creepy as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited 6.25.18


	18. Thoughtless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My sister started reading this cause I asked her to. She said it's boring. :( Like I knew that but still...oh well to each their own.
> 
> Sorry for the long wait...

When I woke up the next morning, my head was pounding and there were the sounds of soft snoring coming from my living room. I didn't need to look at the clock to know I didn't get enough sleep. Even as I laid there suddenly awake, eyes still closed my body was already protesting with deep seeded soreness in my limbs. I groaned as I forced myself to sit up anyway blinking at the time.

There were still three hours before I had to be awake for work on a normal day. Today though my shift was merciful and I was going in later or I never would have stayed up that late. The issue with Myungjun aside.

As I sat there blinking at the same pace the numbers were blinking at me, I recalled the last week and the dream I'd just had. It wasn't profound nor was it all that meaningful in the situation but I had been chasing Myungjun in my dreams, not the real one. The shadow of who I had thought he was.

I let my head fall back on the pillow with a puff of air and stared up at the ceiling. Sleep was now the last thing on my mind as I let myself just think about the situation. No memories, no venting, and just what I felt in this moment. It was hard not to feel lost even after having talked about it all last night and having made a decision of sorts.

I found my thoughts circling around the feelings I'd had as a boy who had lost someone dear to them and as an adult who had decided to walk away from them. I could feel the tears pricking at my eyes as I thought about it. Nothing made sense anymore except that it made perfect sense.

The indecipherable looks that Myungjun would give me, the cut off sentences, and the heavy feeling that sometimes hung in the air for no reason. They were always gone within a moment, whisked away by distractions. By Myungjun trying to shelter me from the truth because he knew it would be hard for me no matter when he told me.

I realized thinking back about it now that everything he did, he did with purpose. It was hard to swallow that he paid that much attention to the details, was forced to pay that much attention to detail. I felt guilty for not catching on even though there was no way I could have. I sighed kicking my blanket off and forced my thoughts away as I made my way to the shower. My decision didn't change. I still didn't want to see him.

A shower hadn't been the cure for my thoughts I had been hoping it would be. I was usually one to zone out and just let the water wash away my feelings and doubts. That wasn't the case this time. My own feelings, that had been blossoming since the first moment I saw Myungjun and he made me feel like a potato, plagued my thoughts.

Not to mention the dreams that I realized were definitely my own desires coming to the surface. When I finally made my way to the kitchen fully intent on forgetting and moving on completely it only got worse as I started cooking. There hadn't been much food in my fridge and what I did have had me making the same dishes for Minhyuk and Jaehee that I had made for Myungjun. And the next thing I knew I was crying and Minhyuk was taking over while Jaehee led me back to the living room to cry.

It didn't make any sense and I knew it. I was the one who had walked away. I was the one who wanted to think about it. And yet I felt like I was the one who had been left behind. The one who had been always been left behind and left chasing, was always chasing, and I was doing it again.

Jaehee listened to me while Minhyuk hummed to himself cooking. I thought about the way I had watched Myungjun cook for me. And I realized then that even if Myungjun had only been doing it because he knew, he still didn't have to.

He didn't have to make things perfect, he didn't have to be how he was. He didn't have to give himself the burden. He could have done things differently, I wasn't sure how but something told me that there were things I was still missing.

I didn't try to put these pieces together though as I instead dried my eyes and allowed my best friends to pamper me for once. It was usually the other way around. Whenever Jaehee was feeling down about a girl or Minhyuk had a fight with his girlfriend. They were always coming to me. 

I sniffled as I settled down at the island and Minhyuk served us with a smile. I noticed another key set aside by the wall. When I pointed it out Minhyuk blushed a lovely shade and we proceeded to make fun of him.

My mood lightened considerably as we swapped stories about what things had always been like. The mood from last night coming back even as we were sober. Greasy food and medication chasing away the ails of hangovers. I should have known I would end up calling in the moment they stepped foot in my apartment but I hadn't thought that far ahead. A quick text though and I was switching shifts with Honey on Saturday and my mood was much better than it had been.

I spent the day reminiscing and it felt like old times. Before things got complicated with girls, work, and trying to keep a social life while working. And before thoughts of Myungjun twisted at my insides demanding answers. Demanding that I examine my feelings and admit to myself what was staring me in the face.

Even as I forced my thoughts away with distractions there was only so long I could keep myself from admitting that maybe, just a little, I believed him. And that maybe things hadn't felt perfect just because Myungjun had been working hard to make them feel that way. That things had always felt a little perfect even when they weren't.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a very very long way from that first draft...like my mind is still blown we're on chapter 18.
> 
> Edited 6.25.18


	19. Acceptance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is maybe a chapter or two left now? I really don't know about this I feel like Jinjin is circling. Please let me know if he seems too wishy-washy. I feel like that's how I would be, how anyone would be really. Because everyone wants that happy ending. But would you really believe it if it were offered to you?

I felt like I was teetering on the edge when I woke up in my own apartment the next morning. Wednesday. I'd set more than one alarm announcing Myungjun's return from his family home. I'd set them with a smile but this morning I only greeted the first one with a grimace. I wished I had asked more questions, like when he was coming back, so then I could avoid him.

I felt better about things than I had. Like the surface pressure of my emotions was keeping them from spilling over. Despite Minhyuk and Jaehee's encouragement to give Myungjun a chance I still didn't want to see his face. My feelings still felt like a swamp I'd have to wade through. And I wasn't sure that I was ready yet.

It wasn't just my feelings about him being my soulmate. It was hard to accept of course, I'd spent at least three hours the day before yesterday debating the idea of them even existing. And what it meant to even be soulmates. I wanted to ask Myungjun what it meant to him. I wanted to know what it would mean to me. What it meant to me now.

I sighed throwing my arm over my eyes just pretending if only for this moment that none of my problems existed. That Myungjun was potentially my soulmate and definitely the cause for my sleep walking. I had at least come to terms with that.

There was no denying my own memories and the knowledge that Myungjun was in them. In my dreams and that once he left I had started sleep walking. And with the sleepwalking had come many different things. The feelings of alienation, fear, and anxiety. A secret I didn't want to share. I forced myself to stop thinking as I got up and got ready for work. There was no smell of incense when I left and I was grateful. I didn't dwell on it as I trudged my way to work.

The day felt like it would never end. Even texting and Jaehee's poor attempts at humor did nothing to quell the disquiet of my thoughts. The emptiness I enforced upon them as often as I could. I was not going to allow myself to think about this at work.

It wasn't going to further my thoughts, it wasn't going to make me feel better. It certainly wasn't going to take back the years of doctor's visits, therapy sessions, and the unrelenting fear that one day I would wake up in the wrong place. In a place I couldn't come back from.

Yet my thoughts refused to leave the thought of Myungjun alone, his happy smile flitting through my mind. I could see everything now. I could see the cracks around the edges of his smiles, the desires written in the smooth way he touched me, and the expressions I hadn't wanted to read. They were spread before my mind suddenly decipherable and I didn't want to see them.

Because they told me that I wasn't alone with the feelings that sleepwalking had brought to me. That Myungjun had felt exactly like I had if only for different reasons. Reasons that were likely to end him up in a lab rather than a straight jacket. I couldn't stop my thoughts from lingering on what it might be like to have a power, of any kind.

I allowed myself the fantasy of what it might be like to see things differently. And to dwell on the way I was sure Myungjun used his gifts when it wasn't keeping me from dates. Spreading good dreams around with a smile too big for his face.

There was no telling how many nightmares he'd ended for me with just his presence but I had to wonder how many he had done for others. How many children's tears he spared. And I thought of Mari who was much better than I knew she should have been after her break up. And I knew it was him.

When I was finally freed from my workplace, after a few words exchanged with Eunwoo on the way out, I looked up at the sky and it's endless expanse. It felt like I was seeing it for the first time, the blue a new wonder to my darkened thoughts.

I looked away quickly and back to the sidewalk. Letting my thoughts drift again, away from the wonder that my last hours had landed on. Thoughts of how cool Myungjun's gift might actually be and how much good he probably had done with it.

As my building came into view, just up the street my mind went back into overdrive. I wasn't sure what I would do if I ran into him in the hallway this soon. I wasn't sure what I would say, if I would even look at him. I knew the moment I saw him, I'd cave.

The questions I wanted to ask would fade away and the desire to kiss him would take over. It hadn't been that long yet, I missed him. I still didn't want to see him. Not yet, not until I was sure I could ask for the answers I still needed.

Walking up the stairs I didn't smell any incense where I would normally if he'd burnt any. Though I convinced myself the tightness in my chest had nothing to do with its absence as I finished climbing the stairs to my apartment. It was as I turned to unlock my door I caught a glimpse of Emma on the stairs, her long hair flicking behind her as she climbed up them.

There was a large duffel bag over her shoulder. I felt my heart clench and it was suddenly very hard to breathe as I stared at his apartment across from mine. I heard someone on the stairs and jumped as I looked over. It was Mari, who waved at me nervously as I settled back down. She was carrying a new project of some kind but I paid it no attention and avoided her small talk with an excuse as I took shelter in my apartment.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My main goal with these monster fics is for someone to say 'damn all those little things really tied together at the end' <3 I hope I pull this off.
> 
> Edited 6.25.18


	20. Decision

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So we're almost there. I thought I'd end on twenty but apparently my writing has other plans for us. And I won't say how many chapters left anymore as soon as I write it up here it becomes a lie anyway.
> 
> Btw we are skipping a lot of the angst. Why? Because it's not important. I do not write what's un-important. 1) Cause I'm lazy 2) Because you never fight the story.

The week had felt like a tug of war between myself. And even as I woke up in my bed on Saturday I could feel the conflict starting again. My dreams for the most part had been nothing I could remember, for which I was thankful but also curious. Was it that I wasn't dreaming or was it that the dreams were the kind that involved Myungjun.

I still hadn't seen him, there was no hanging scent of incense in the hallway, Emma was avoiding me, and I wasn't sure what I wanted to do about it. On one hand I'd already come to accept that Myungjun was very much the reason for my sleepwalking, which had so far stopped.

On the other hand I still had questions about what that meant and if it would last. There had been times before, back in the beginning I had thought it was cured. It hadn't been and I learned to always expect it. Whether the last bout had been three months ago or a week.

There was the desire to see Myungjun immediately followed by the desire not to see him. And the mixed feelings that pulled me in different directions. So far in avoiding the times Myungjun would leave for class I had gotten all my shopping done so I wouldn't be home. I'd gone to the gym more too.

Yet every morning when he returned from class I woke from a dead sleep to stare blearily at the clock. I knew I'd woken up because he was home. And it was hard to say that I wasn't disappointed more than once to wake up in my own bed instead of his couch.

I forced my thoughts to steady and sat up wearily afraid of the time. I'd already woken up several times last night. A half formulated plan taking place between moments of wakefulness.

Glancing at the clock now I could only sigh. It was normally my day off but I told Honey I would take his shift. His shifts were always later than mine, around the time I would normally be leaving. So I found myself awake early for no reason.

I thought about what I could do and sighed to myself as there wasn't much I hadn't already done. I'd hung out with Minhyuk so much this week I was almost tired of his face and I knew for sure his girlfriend was tired of mine. As she'd blown up his phone at least twice while we were out and kicked me out once. Jaehee for his part was around as much as he could be as well. It was nice, it was almost suffocating if I were honest but it was nice to know they were worried.

I didn't want them to worry anymore. Which had led to my fitful sleeping and half concocted plans. Minhyuk and Jaehee had been pushing me to at least talk to Myungjun. I kept telling them it wasn't that I didn't want to talk to him. It wasn't even that I didn't want to see him anymore.

I just still needed time. They didn't believe me anymore than I believed myself. I had wanted to see Myungjun all week, well part of me did. The part that was uncertain was more afraid of how things would be now.

The pressure of knowing what we were and what that might do to us. What knowing might do to me. What looking at Myungjun and knowing he was the part of me I'd never realized was missing would do to me.

Even so I wanted to see him. There was a need to see him, to see his dumb smile when he saw me. I missed the small talk as we ate breakfast in his apartment. The glares from Emma that I now understood. My need to see him had been growing everyday I came home and the hallway lacked the smell of incense.

My desire was only repressed by the painful clenching of my heart. The throb of nervousness that things would be awkward and I wouldn't be able to say anything at all, just stare at him and stutter. Or give into my impulses and kiss him senseless.

Either one wasn't going to get me anywhere I wanted to be. Rolling out of bed I forced myself to go about my day the plan I'd slowly built in my sleep haze begun to formulate becoming a little clearer in my mind as I texted Minhyuk and Jaehee. Deciding a drama binge was exactly what I needed.

As I left for work I saw Emma on the stairs she smiled at me tightly, pity dancing in her eyes but they weren't looking at me. I heard his door shut softly to my side and it took everything not to whip my head around and stare. Emma's tight smile followed me as I descended the stairs, and as soon as I was around the corner out of sight I could hear her knocking on his door. Whispers of encouragement and to stay strong, I never heard it open.

By the time I was leaving work, much later than I was used to, I'd come to a decision. It wasn't a great plan and it was probably a lot more awkward than it needed to be if it failed. But it was a plan and I wasn't going to sit around and think about it anymore. I was going to do something about the painful throb in my chest.

The longing I was feeling for someone I had known far longer than I thought possible was going to end. I'd come a decision and I was going to get the answers I still needed. And hopefully, maybe, the soulmate I hadn't realized I even had.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is no sex. After all that's what 'This isn't Love' is for (sorta I mean I made it for cross dressing ❤ sex)
> 
> Edited 6.25.18


	21. Sleep Walking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't give a concrete number of chapters left because I still don't know. I don't as, I'm sure you've noticed plan that much out. All the little stuff sure but how many chapters, what's in it, and what not. Pffft who plans that? Not me.

I was wide awake the moment I heard footsteps in the hallway. They were soft almost inaudible and from my bedroom I'd have never known they were there. But even as I pulled out my phone to look at the time I knew it wasn't necessary, I knew what time it was just as well as whose footsteps they were.

I had woken up every night this week at this same time if only because those feet were treading these halls. I pushed those thoughts away though as well as the lingering drowsiness from the nap I'd allowed myself. I shook my head staring at my door my thoughts occupied by the plan of action I'd decided to take.

It was risky but somehow it felt a lot less risky than facing him head on. I waited an hour after Myungjun came home to put my plan in action. That was at least the average amount of time most people stayed up after getting home really late. Of course I knew better than to think Myungjun normal. This was the hour I was almost certain that I started sleep walking.

I could be wrong but it wasn't like Minhyuk had been very helpful when I asked him about it, instead trying to pry into why I would want to know now. I hadn't answered his last text. My phone currently residing on silent in my pocket. As I grabbed the key from the island I looked down at my sweats and cut off tee. They were what I normally wore to bed when I thought I would end up sleepwalking.

This time there was no thinking about it. Instead I was fully aware that Myungjun would be getting a full view of side ab and my nice ass. I'd been to the gym a lot lately for more than just venting off my feelings.

I forced down my blush though as I tried to train my face into something that I thought it probably looked like while I was sleepwalking. I hoped it was convincing as I made my way to the door. The short walk across the hall wasn't long enough I decided as I fumbled the key in my hands halfway to his door. There wasn't a soul around to see me for which I was thankful.

I paused in front of his door listening, I couldn't hear anything beyond the intense beating of my heart as I stood there. It would have been really, really easy to talk myself out of this if only it didn't require actually confronting him head on. Facing the awkward atmosphere of people who knew each other, or at least thought they had that no longer did.

I would do anything not to feel that with Myungjun. I might have made myself the stranger this week but it was definitely not who I wanted to be to him. And with that thought I mustered all my courage and put the key in the lock, I didn't hear any response from inside as I turned it. Though it felt like my heart was about to beat it's way into my throat as I turned the knob.

When I pushed the door open I couldn't see anything except the wall, the couch was on the other side of the wood. I refused to look yet instead steeling my nerves. I did my best to keep my 'sleepwalking' face in place as I pivoted shutting the door behind me.

So far everything was fine, I could barely see from the anxiety and my ears were pounding with the sound of my own blood pumping, but so far so good. Even as I thought that to myself it took more effort to turn around than I thought it would when I thought this up. But I knew that I had to do it.

When I turned to the couch Myungjun was there, his eyes glued to mine but he sat silent while watching me. I tried to fight the flush that wanted to overtake my face. Myungjun looked just as handsome as always. Even though he was currently wearing an unflattering shade of a shirt that read 'mood'. Presumably with some questionably short boxers that I couldn't see from my vantage point.

It took everything I had in me not to swallow at how much of his thighs I was seeing. Any questions I had thought about sex being an issue instantly flew out the window. But I ambled on in my ploy, my face felt like it had maintained its composure. I hoped it had maintained my composure as I finally landed on the couch. I made myself into a small ball but I still felt his eyes on me.

A few minutes passed and nothing in the air stirred. I had closed my eyes again, forcing my face to relax as if I had gone back to sleep. It still felt infinitely more comfortable around Myungjun than it had right to. As even though my heart wanted to beat right out of my chest and back into my apartment, my mind felt calm. As if I had come home instead of invading someone else's space.

If there was nothing else that could convince me that Myungjun was my soulmate it was this. As I was prone to be nervous and I was prone to anxiety. With Myungjun it had always been strangely more absent than with others. As I lay there I realized the apartment didn't smell like incense anymore.

A few more minutes crawled by but Myungjun still hadn't moved, his pen had been poised when I came in. I had yet to hear him lower it or continue using it. I hadn't even heard him shift even slightly after I had curled into his couch. My head on a pillow left in the corner.

It was the same pillow he'd given me before. Just as I felt I might actually fall asleep from waiting for a response I heard him shifting his body turning on the couch. I could feel his eyes studying me still.

"Jinwoo I know you didn't sleep walk in here." Myungjun's voice was quiet almost a whisper but not, it was lower just hardly audible but I heard tears in it. I wanted to sit up immediately and confess, I wanted to curl into the couch and disappear, but mostly I wanted to turn and pull him into my chest and never let go. To make sure his voice never sounded that broken again. But I didn't because I was the one who had broke it.

Instead I answered from where I was, my body stiff and my nerves on fire with flight or fight. "Then why didn't you stop me." My own voice sounded foreign, soft and broken just like his. I could feel the pain in my chest now as I lay there, he was only a cushion from me but the distance felt much farther than that.

"I wanted to see what you would do." Myungjun shifted again and I felt his body pulling away from mine. I wanted to reach out to him, to pull him closer. I knew it wouldn't solve the problem and so I didn't instead waiting for him to go on.

"I know you still have questions. It's why you're here." His voice was more steady now and I felt some of the tension leaving my body. "But I want you to know," He paused and I found myself shifting to sit up and look at him. Pulled into the serious tone in his voice, even though there was an undertone of tears. He stared into my eyes and I felt like I was falling all over again, like the first time.

From the first time I'd seen him in my dreams, the first time I'd seen him at my door, and all those dreams in between that I hadn't remembered. I had to swallow to push away the lump in my throat at the feelings clearly displayed in his eyes. His eyes that no longer needed to overlap with the ones from my dreams because I realized they were the same. Had always been the same.

"I missed you." His voice was low and he looked away down at his feet that he pulled up to himself, burying his legs under his shirt. He looked adorable.

"I missed you too." His head snapped up fast and I smiled at him. "I'm done thinking about it." I couldn't help fiddling with the hem of my tee as I pulled one of my legs up under the other. There was no point in being anything but honest.

"We need to talk about this. Not just you telling me, but an actual discussion." He nodded his head and I nodded mine in return the first question already forming on the tip of my tongue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thoughts? I really don't have much to say. I'm still working hard to make this as good as the first chapter. It feels like I'm failing but I haven't read this all the way through in ages. Just every chapter by itself like 9 times.
> 
> Edited 6.25.18


	22. Discussion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not a lot to say. Next chapter is probably the last. I had a feeling it would end on 23.

I already knew which question I wanted to ask, the question I needed to ask. But I hesitated even as I stared at him, our dark eyes meeting. Once I asked this question there truly was no going back. And as if he knew he waited, waited for me to take that step. To do as I said and discuss. I took a deep breath and asked the only question I truly wanted an answer to. "Am I going to keep sleepwalking?"

Myungjun pulled his legs closer as he looked at me, eyes studying me as if trying to assess if I was really ready for the answer. I didn't feel ready for it, but I needed to know. "I asked around about some things while I was back home." His words were slow, slower than mine and that was a feat.

"They didn't have any concrete answers, ours..." He trailed off a small dusting of pink over taking his cheeks as he looked away from me. "Ours is the first case of adult sleepwalking. But they seemed sure that once you've..." He was blushing again and I had to wonder if this discussion was going to turn into pulling facts out of Myungjun like I was pulling teeth. "Once you've accepted me...as your soulmate that you should stop sleepwalking." His voice was low and it was my turn to be red in the face.

Despite my blush I pushed on because I needed answers, real ones. Even if they were embarrassing. Though I found hearing him call me his soulmate out loud again was more cheesy than terrifying like I thought it would be. It also led perfectly to the next important question.

"What does it even mean to be soulmates Myungjun?" I could hear my voice waver at that even though I'd wanted it to stay strong. "How are you even so sure it's me? Couldn't it be a mistake?" I wasn't looking at him anymore my eyes on my hands in my lap as I felt tears pricking my eyes. Just as they had before when I had this thought.

A thought I hadn't really wanted to voice. Because I didn't want to know if he could be wrong, if he was wrong. As somewhere deep down, from the very beginning I was wanting it to be him for me. From the first moment, all those years ago, when I started seeing him in my dreams.

"It's not a mistake Jinwoo." Myungjun's eyes were as hard as his voice when I looked up at him. They were glued to mine and he was moving, slowly across the couch towards me. I didn't move, I felt like a deer caught in the headlights.

"It's not a mistake." He reiterated as he cupped my cheek his thumb brushing along my cheekbone, a small smile growing on his lips. His eyes softened as they stared into mine. He didn't touch me other than his hand, just leaning enough to be over my leg. His other hand supporting him on the back of the couch.

I felt for just a second I couldn't breathe with the weight of his eyes on me. It felt like they really could see straight to my soul. I wanted to kiss him, I didn't move though instead I blinked the thought away. He only sighed and began to pull back as if realizing he might have crossed a line. I stopped him with a hand on his. "How do you know?" I needed an answer.

Myungjun swallowed and his eyes avoided mine as he thought about how to answer. I could see the gears turning in his mind as he continued to stroke my cheek. "I told you before there is only one person whose dreams I can not change, only one person who can see me. Do you remember me in your dreams?" I could only nod dumbly into his hand, because it was true.

"I was so happy when I found you, you know?" His voice was low again and I felt the heat rising throughout my body at the look he was giving me. Along with the desire to just kiss him. I resisted though as I closed my eyes, the feeling of his thumb caressing my cheek distracting me from my thoughts but I didn't dare let him move it. Instead rubbing my own thumb over his hand.

"I remember, I didn't want to remember for a long time. But what does it mean for us Myungjun? Why did I keep sleepwalking in spurts? I..." I could feel the lump in my throat as the emotions I'd been dealing with all week hit me full force. If I was missing him this much and I hadn't accepted him, exactly how much had he been missing me?

"I'm sorry Jinjin, I'm so sorry." He leaned forward and I felt soft lips on my forehead. Then he was pulling back, his hand leaving my cheek as he used his leverage on the couch to pull backward. I opened my eyes to look at him, he'd only settled back on his heels. His hands were clutching on his knees.

"The spurts of sleepwalking were because, even after I learned control I would enter your dreams. I can't control your dreams, but I can disguise myself a little in them. If you didn't look directly at me or touch me in the dream you'd never know I was there. But sometimes I got too close and...You'd come after me..." He hung his head and I wondered if maybe all the objects I'd broken were because he'd escaped my grasp in the last minute. "I'm sorry." He didn't look up at me again and I pulled my legs up to myself to rest my chin on as I watched him.

"I should have stayed away. I didn't realize..." His voice was breaking again and I felt my heart moving along with it. I shifted yet again to reach out and touch him. My fingertips barely brushing his knee but his eyes looked up to meet mine. There was a determination in them I hadn't been expecting.

"It's how I found you." He admitted and I blinked at him because while I hadn't really thought about it, it made sense as people usually dreamed of their surroundings. And with the dreams I had when I wasn't sleep walking it was usually about my everyday life. The pieces were coming together again as I recalled oddities in my dreams as well as faces I didn't recognize but I was too into the dream to notice.

"As to being soulmates..." Myungjun's voice was low again and his eyes were softer, and my breath caught at what he might say. I felt my heart rate pick up again and I squeezed my knees with one arm, my fingertips still against his knee. He was staring at my fingers, then our eyes locked.

"It doesn't really mean anything." I raised an eyebrow at that and he smirked at me. Something in the air shifting with that one statement. A tension that had settled unresolved between us was cracking.

"I mean it does..." There was a growing flush on his cheeks as he continued, fumbling over his words. "But it doesn't mean as much as the romances tell us. It just means that I can be honest and open with you about my dream walking. The way they tell it is that we're two halves of one soul or our souls complete each other. And that makes everything between us perfect..."

I couldn't help nodding along with what he was saying that was exactly what I had heard growing up about soulmates. That they were your other, usually better half. I hadn't felt that way about Myungjun. It didn't feel like he was filling something I lacked, it felt more like he was making what I already had better. It felt like he balanced me out in ways I hadn't realized I needed.

"Nothing is perfect Jinwoo." Myungjun was looking at my fingertips again and I pulled them back to draw his attention back to my eyes. Because I knew that, the moments I found perfect before were not perfect for him.

"It just means that we were given a way to come together, to make each other better. Soulmates are balance. It doesn't mean we'll never fight and everything will be fine as long as we're together. It doesn't mean our feelings will line up as one and we'll..." He paused rocking back on his heels nervously licking his lips as he stared down at my knees. Our knees were touching now that I had lowered my legs. "I don't want to be with you because you're my soulmate." He looked away again and there was another flush growing on his cheeks. "I came here to get to know you again..."

I moved forward enough to put my hand on his cheek forcing him to look at me again. I could feel the heat on my own cheeks. "And what Myungjun?" I already knew the answer now, the answer that had been staring me in the face despite my insecurities.

That Myungjun was the hyper to my calm, and I was the steady to his emotional. I caressed his cheek while I bit the inside of my own to keep from kissing him. He smiled at me and it felt like we were finally on the same page.

"And I fell in love with you, again." I felt him lean into my hand and I smiled at him as he turned to kiss my wrist. This was enough for now. I leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss on his lips, I wanted to do more. I wanted to engulf him in my arms and never let go. I didn't though instead I rested my forehead on his and stared into his eyes as I spoke.

"Then would you mind if maybe I..." I hesitated only a second steeling my nerves again still unsure of how I was feeling about everything in the moment. "stopped by for breakfast in the morning tomorrow too?" He nodded into my hand and I leaned in to kiss him again, this time pressing forward adding just a little more pressure before pulling back.

I couldn't tell him I loved him, not yet. Not until I wrapped my head around everything. He didn't seem to mind though when I stood up and made my way to the kitchen with every intention of making us breakfast now.

It wasn't as awkward as I thought it would be moving around the kitchen as if we hadn't just had a very emotional discussion and spent most of the week away from each other. I knew we were still a long way from where I wanted to be. I knew things would never be perfect. That wasn't what I wanted anyway.

What I wanted was Myungjun standing next to me while I cracked eggs. His shoulder bumping mine trying to make me get shells in it to dig out. What I wanted was the soft smiles sent my way when he thought I was too distracted by the burner.

Of course I knew that this wasn't the end of it. I'd go home later and have to contemplate it all. Take in everything that had been said and puzzle it all into my view of things. That was just life.

And I realized watching Myungjun make faces at my seasoning choices that he was always going to be part of my puzzle. And even if I couldn't say it right now, I didn't want it any other way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edited 6.25.18


	23. Perfect

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like last chapter was really the end. So this might read more like an epilogue in some ways. Meaning a time skip and some pacing pick up. Don't hate me. I hadn't planned this far.
> 
> While I was blindsided by the ending (yet again) when I first started thinking about how many chapters this might end up being 23 always came to mind. To me Myungjin has always lead to the number 3.

I could feel a weird shift in time as I looked at the star chart calendar I'd hung up some odd months ago. I wasn't sure where the time went. It felt like only yesterday had been that ungodly early Sunday morning when I was confronting Myungjun for answers about us.

Then next thing I realized the new year was starting. It felt like it had rushed by in a whirlwind of memories. I'd moved out of the apartment building we met in, leaving Emma to her own devices as we moved in together. I'd managed to score the apartment across from my best friend again, either due to luck, Myungjun's savings or both. 

Even so it had become something of a tradition now for Emma to show up with Jaehee, then for Minhyuk to wander over with his now fiance in tow to crash our Sunday breakfast dates. They had only left a few hours ago now.

Glancing from the calendar over to Myungjun, who was currently pursuing our joint movie collection in the living room, I could only smile. I chuckled at the way Myungjun's butt wiggled as he bent over to look at the bottom shelf. I knew that he knew every movie on that shelf by heart. He had learned them all long ago when he mixed our collections together. And he had relearned those he'd forgotten when he set up the new shelf he'd been promising to set up since three months ago.

"Jinjin are you sure you don't want to just buy a new movie to watch?" Myungjun's whine was half pleading but I wasn't about to give into him this time. That's how we'd ended up with the small corner of movies we'd never watch again they were so awful.

"I mean we've seen 'all' of these." I didn't need to see him to know that he was jutting his lower lip out. I didn't pay it any attention as I grabbed the step stool and instead began digging out my favorite snacks. I'd hidden them away from him in the cabinet behind the canned foods because if I didn't he'd eat them all in one sitting and not leave me any, again. He hadn't stopped pouting and begging by the time I had dug out what I wanted and set them with the others.

"We still have movies we haven't watched." I didn't resist rolling my eyes as I turned around to see him pouting at me through the window that was placed beside the stove. It was a nice feature that allowed the person cooking to connect with their guests through the wall that separated the kitchen from the living room.

I shook one of the snacks at him and watched his eyes light up at the sight, smile blooming on his lips. I could hear him pulling out different movies again as I moved away and gathered up the rest of the snacks in my arms. Heading back into the living room.

"But I don't want to watch those." Myungjun was already putting a movie in when I came around the wall. I smiled a the case, it was my favorite movie that he hated for no good reason. I set the snacks down and splayed them across the table as he came up behind me. I gave him a quick kiss on my way to light incense leaving him to settle into the couch.

It felt nice to curl up to him, my head on his shoulder and our hands linked as the movie began to play with the press of a button. Leaning over as the introduction started I pressed a chaste kiss into his nape smiling up at him when he gave me a questioning look. He shrugged and turned back to the movie his thumb rubbing circles on the back of my hand. In this moment everything felt perfect even though I knew it wasn't.

Life together wasn't perfect, as Myungjun had told me over a year ago being soulmates didn't mean anything more in your relationship. We still fought like other couples only to make up, we still didn't see eye to eye on everything, and it certainly didn't fix everything.

It wasn't like the movies I still liked to watch when he wasn't home, it wasn't like the dramas he liked to force me watch, or the stories we heard growing up. He still struggled through his classes, advancing further in his studies while I moved onto Minhyuk's Father-in-law to be's company.

There was a pile of bills on the table. Myungjun still had to be careful about whose dreams he entered and what he did in them. I still slept walked occasionally, mostly into the living room or the bedroom where Myungjun was still up not wanting to sleep.

No life together wasn't perfect but that was what made it perfect to me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A sincere and heartfelt thank you to everyone that has stuck around this long. I hope you enjoyed the story as much as I enjoyed writing it. All thoughts appreciated!
> 
> Special shout-outs to Choi_Youngslay, TayVengeance, Ly Pham for all your comments that made me blush and smile all the time. It really helped me keep going when I was feeling lazy or unmotivated. 
> 
> Look forward to my next Myungjin as I fear there's no way they are done with me yet.
> 
> Edited 6.25.18

**Author's Note:**

> I'm in love with this idea. I'm not sure how in love anyone else will be. So thoughts much appreciated. 
> 
> This plot line is supposed to run fairly slowly. If you're bored don't feel bad telling me. If you don't like it tell me. If you think it's great tell me. I want to know.


End file.
